Kerbal GATE Program: And Thus The Kerbals Blew Stuff Up There!
by T-28
Summary: "This is the Albatross 3, I'm picking up on visuals of weird creatures down there. It looks like they're holding EAS-4 Strut Connectors with pointed ends."
1. Khapter 1: EAS-4 Strut Connector

A lone Kerbal plane flew about twenty kilometers away from the Kerbal Space Center. It was an Albatross 3, a long-ranged aircraft with a huge wingspan.

Its mission? To scout out land features capable of building an air base.

There have been lots of aircraft failure recently, due to the inexperienced pilots. That meant they didn't have a place to land, since there were no airfields this far out. The only building this far out was the abandoned Kerbal Space Center 2, and it didn't have a runway.

"This is the Albatross 3, we are currently at 3,000 meter altitude and steady. We might have found suitable terrain for a runway, over."

Below them was a valley, and its inside was very flat.

 _"This is the KSC Tracking Station, we acknowledge. Take a few screenshots of the area; we need to survey it in its entirety. Over."_

"Affirmative, I'm going in for a few short dives."

The airplane dived once and snapped about three pictures with its in-built camera. It was about to dive again and take another one, but something caught the pilot's eye.

"This is the Albatross 3. I have in my sights a strange, tall structure. I do not recognize it and it does not appear anywhere on my map as a landscape. Should I screenshot it? Over."

 _"This is the KSC Tracking Station, please screenshot it and send it to us immediately, over."_

The Albatross 3 was about to nosedive again for another screenshot, however a long, pointed stick found its way into the wing. A few more flew by.

"This is the Albatross 3, there are weird sticks being flung at my plane and they're doing minor damage. Orders?"

 _"This is the KSC Tracking Station, retreat now. Our orbital satellite has detected a huge force right below you. We repeat, retreat now."_

"Affirmative, I'm pulling out."

The pilot of the aircraft looked down at the masses of creatures below.

"This is the Albatross 3, I'm picking up on visuals of weird creatures down there. It looks like they're holding EAS-4 Strut Connectors with pointed ends."

 _"Alright. This is the KSC Tracking Station, we are launching a Stratolauncher aircraft, a Thunderbird, and a Velociteze to your position to survey and attack the enemy, over."_

The pilot of the Albatross 3 was confused.

"What are you talking about? Isn't the Stratolauncher a drone carrying a satellite launcher? And the Thunderbird is just a high performance plane; what good would it do? And the Velociteze is just a commercial jet, what are you sending it for?"

 _"At the last second we replaced the satellite rocket on the Stratolauncher with a missile payload; we also replaced the drop tanks on the Thunderbird with bombs, and the Velociteze has a few reconnaissance observers on it."_

"Oh."

The pilot of the Albatross 3 watched the three aircraft fly by his plane.

"One more thing: How did you manage to equip weapons on these aircraft so fast?"

 _"Oh, those aircraft were designed in case a hostile army were to attack. It was originally a top secret project, but it's not so secret anymore and the aircraft are now on standby."_

"What are we going to do now that an army appeared out of thin air and tried to attack me?"

 _"Bomb them with planes."_

"And if the planes don't work?"

" _Nuke 'em from orbit."_


	2. Khapter 2: J-90 Goliath Turbofan Engine

Jebediah Kerman is the most respected man in the Kerbal Space Center.

Wait, did I mention he's not a man?

These beings, called ' _Kerbals'_ , are not your ordinary one-eyed green laser wielding UFO Drivers you know. Except for the green part, they're not like aliens as humans imagine them.

It is a wonder how they became a space-faring species, as their clumsiness combined with their mild stupidity and rocket fuel - lots of it - ends in terrific explosions. They managed to pull though, though, so they are a space-faring puff-head civilization.

So when they got reports about a huge unknown army on their doorstep, they didn't panic.

"How are our orbital asteroid stations? Are they ready to drop?"

"Yes, sir. They've fired three orbital burns and are ready to land at the right time. All the crews on them have been evacuated," Gene Kerman, the Mission Controller, replied.

Jebediah Kerman's plan to deal with the invaders: Deorbit asteroids right onto the armies.

Despite the fact that several other Kerbals suggested cheaper and safer alternatives, who _doesn't_ want to see an asteroid blow up an invading army?

There was one slight issue, though.

"We estimate that it would take about half a day for the asteroids to land on the army. In that half day, they could be advancing towards the KSC. What should we do to halt them?"

Jeb thought for a second. Suddenly, a very, very bright idea popped in his head.

"I have a trump card!" he exclaimed, raising a fist. "I shall build a wall to keep them out!"

Gene just stared at Jeb blankly.

"And I'll make them pay for it!"

Gene Kerman pretended he didn't hear that.

"So, if they _do_ get to the KSC, what do we have to defend ourselves with?"

Jebediah pulled out a two meter long tube contraption. "It's my latest blaster! The Boom Goes Your Enemy™  blaster I invented myself! Shoots one separation at the enemy, with a maximum of two loaded on at one time!"

Gene Kerman waved it off. "You just stitched together a bunch of Seperatrons and Decouplers and trademarked it."

"But it actually works!"

"You probably just put that together in your spare time with the spare parts of your Junkyard Facility a few miles west."

Jebediah rolled his eyes. Despite the fact that he was a well respected Kerbal, it didn't prevent him from earning a few eye rolls from the staff. It was mostly from his inventions.

What he planned to do was, after annihilating the army, he would go out there himself and see where they came from. Most theorized they had specialized stealth landers that were undetectable to radar.

He theorized that they went through a portal using some magic-hocus-pocus stuff.

Of course, no one thought so. They gave probably a million arguments why, talking their mouths off, but Jeb didn't really listen to their senseless babble.

And the creatures that were there were interesting. They looked like Kerbals, except they had longer legs, arms, and smaller heads. There were also others that looked similar but different in ways.

They had lost one plane to weird flying creatures. They looked like planes, except their wings flapped and they breathed fire.

The KSC's anti-air missile defenses dealt with them nicely.

Luckily, the plane's pilot managed to bail his capsule out with the Abort feature, and he landed somewhere in the ocean, where an amphibious plane picked him up.

And then, a Kerbal ran in, panting heavily.

"They... they're marching towards us right now!" he exclaimed.

Jebediah was hardly surprised.

"Alright. Are our defenses being deployed?"

"Yes, sir! They're being deployed this second!"

"So, what's the worry about?"

"There's too much for us to take down!"

Jebediah started thinking. He could easily formulate a strategy to take them down.

"Get out the Idiot Plane. Yes, the one with a payload comparable to a small nuclear bomb. I'm flying it right into the enemy's forces."

The Kerbal that ran in was speechless.

"You can't do that! There's no way to survive that!"

Jeb walked by and simply replied,"I'll cut your paycheck in half if you don't set it up soon. Get to work."

"Y- Yes, sir!"

* * *

"Fuel is go! Engine is go! Landing gear's brakes are off! You have permission to liftoff, Jeb!"

Jebediah Kerman himself was in the plane. It was essentially a Kamikaze plane, designed as last resort against space debri that might crash into the KSC.

"I need all the fighter aircraft in the air and anti-air missiles to cover me while I fly into their forces. Wish me luck!"

The plane's several jet engines all fired at full power, the fighter aircraft lagging behind.

Jeb's plane narrowly dodged one of those weird winged creatures, flames missing the cockpit by meters. A few sticks embedded in the fuselage of the plane, dealing little to no damage.

He was zoned in on the enemy.

Three...

Two...

One...

He kicked open the cockpit door and promptly jumped out.

He was now in freefall. He saw the plane fly ahead of him, its engines still running. He was somewhere around five thousand meters in the air.

"Eat your heart out, Bob Kerman!" Jeb yelled to the air, watching his plane fly by the winged creatures.

And suddenly, he fell into the fuselage of another plane.

 _"I would eat my heart out, but I'm rescuing you from your own mission right now."_

Bob Kerman managed to catch Jebediah Kerman in the air with another plane.

"Aye, thank you with that, buddy!" Jeb exclaimed through the radio communications.

 _"Yeah, you landed a direct hit on their army. Took out about two-thirds of their army. Our remaining missiles, armored vehicles, and aircraft are taking them all out."_

Jeb raised his fist in the air. "Yes, success!"

* * *

There were estimated ten-thousand enemy casualties.

Kerbal casualties? Three.

Two of them were from a fighter that hit a flying creature in mid-air. Neither the flying creature nor the fighter survived.

The other one was an armored vehicle. A Kerbal was injured by stubbing his toe.

The ten-thousand enemy casualties was just in that one day. The deorbiting asteroids hit the valley where the enemy army was stationed. Not one enemy survived.

When they landed in the valley, imagine the Kerbal's faces when they realized the invading army did not use invisible landers as they had theorized, but a portal. A huge one, too.

Jeb was smug for days.

They planned to send armored vehicles, VTOLs, and fast scout cars through the portal. They set up a base literally overnight right outside the portal.

What did they name the portal?

Geo-Alternate Time or Erea.

Yes, they are aware Erea is spelled wrong. But they wanted to make a name with a cool acronym. So most refereed it to its initials, the GAToE, or the mostly used nickname, the GATE.

* * *

 _A/N:_

 _The storyline of this fic will be much different from the anime/manga/light novel. If you wonder why, they're Kerbals, for goodness sake. 100% more explosions, (M)Kountain (D)Kew™, and 100% more stupidity._

 _Why do I suddenly begin pitying the Empire?_


	3. Khapter 3: TR-2V Stack Decoupler

_A/N:_

 _Alexkehling:  
_ _I haven't thought of that. But the only species they can really be compared with are the Dwarves, like you mentioned. The Empire would probably call them the Green Dwarves._ _  
_

* * *

The Empire, after losing the Gate to an unknown enemy, decided upon a counterattack - a direct and full on charge of the Gate. However, they found these large, white cylinder metal containers with assorted items stuck to them around the Gate during the charge, and the soldiers were trying to investigate what they were.

The cylinder metal things exploded and killed lots of men, right before bright yellow and orange streaks rained from the skies, killing those below. Large dragon-like creatures, with stiff, unmoving wings, terrified the soldiers, and they all retreated.

For now.

* * *

" _This is the Aeris 3A aircraft, we drove them off successfully!"_

The pilot of this one particular plane kept buzzing the soldiers below, convincing them to run faster.

Looking at the battlefield, Jeb smiled.

"Looks like that plan of yours really worked, eh? I mean, dropping FL-T200 fuel tanks everywhere with bits of assorted junk on them caught the enemy's eyes, right?" Bob Kerman, Jeb's friend, asked. "They seemed very intrigued in them. That was, until we detonated 'em."

Looking at the new base they're building around the Gate, Jeb replied,"Yep. Teaches them to try to mess with us."

Jeb looked at the new runway under construction. "It'll take at the very least two days to complete. For now, we'll have to work with short-runway aircraft and VTOLs."

* * *

The Empire, seeing their main attack has failed, decided a night attack.

However, those strange flying dragons flew above them again, and instead of firing upon them, they turned on extremely bright, powerful lights, blinding soldiers.

And that was when Hell itself came from the Gate.

Hundreds of little metal pieces flew forwards, all of them just flat cylinders with holes in the middle, hitting the soldiers and killing them instantly.

And then the explosions came in.

The soldiers that were killed were the lucky ones. The ones that survived… not so much.

The battle at Alnus Hill was lost to the Empire yet again.

* * *

"These new weapons are some of the best handheld weaponry I've ever used!" Jebediah exclaimed. It was basically a handle with a bunch of decouplers on the end. The decouplers had enough decoupling force to kill one of those hostile creatures, so they were useful in the battle.

"One question, though," Jebediah asked, holding up another one of those weapons, only this one was slightly shorter. "What is the difference between these two, other than this one comes with less ammo?  
"The shorter one is a submachine gun, designed for close in fighting."

"Oh."

The Kerbals have been building more combat vehicles - armored trucks, tanks, jet aircraft, and *possibly* orbital bombers. Their goal was to get at least one into orbit around this strange planet, a geostationary one, at least. That way, they could monitor and defend against any attempting invading army.

Of course, there was another problem: Public relations. If this is a country of its own, it is bound to have citizens. If it has citizens, they are bound to be scared.

Jebediah didn't know much about Public Relations, so they met up with one of their specialists, Walt Kerman.

Walt Kerman was a Kerbal that wore a hazmat suit. He also has a bit of stubble on his face.

Despite the fact that the job he's in does not require Hazmat suits, it "was highly recommended by my employer", as he says.

"The one most important thing when handling public relationships," he says to the expeditionary squad, comprised of Bob Kerman, Bill Kerman, Valentina Kerman, and Jebediah Kerman. "Is that you do not get contaminated. Public relations is a very dangerous job, extremely toxic. I suggest you all wear hazmat suits while performing so."

Jeb shook his head. "If our spacesuits can keep out the vacuum, surely it could handle a bit of 'Public Relations', right?"

"No, no, no! It is very dangerous! You would be facing..." Walt Kerman's face contorted in horror. "...You would be facing en masses, cheering for you. Fans, admirers, little children! It- it-"

Walt Kerman promptly fainted.

Looking at Walt's body, Valentina said,"That went well. Very well. Now who should we consult if we get in a public affair in this world?"

Jeb waved her off. "Look, he wasn't that useful in the first place. Now can we please get out of this base? I really want to stretch my legs."

Bob, Bill, Jeb, and Val wall went outside. There were two jeeps, one with a small missile on it and the other with lots of room for Science supplies.

They really wanted to study more about the outside.

And so they went, Jeb and Val in the first car, and Bill and Bob in the missile car.

They were ready for anything ahead.

* * *

 _A/N:_

 _If any of you are confused, I will sometimes switch between the name Jeb and Jebediah and Valentina and Val._


	4. Khapter 4: Cubic Octagonal Strut

_Review Replies:_

 _alexkehling: I plan for there to be BDArmory parts in here, and they'll make a cameo as a completely new company (Like Rockomax, Jeb's Junkyard, ect)._

 _MrMorriss[Guest]: Definitely fighting, I dunno about diplomatic relationships. Probably; a story with only explosions would be boring._

* * *

The group of two KSP jeeps moved across the landscape.

Bob Kerman, being the scientist of the group, was jotting down notes of the local wildlife, flora and fauna, of the area. The species here seemed a lot more diverse than the ones on Kerbin.

"This is Valentina Kerman of Rover 1," Val spoke into the radio of the front jeep. "Bob, Bill, we see a small group of buildings up ahead. Should we go and check?"

When there were buildings, there were beings. Where there were beings, there was potential for friendly relationships.

Or not.

But they were an expeditionary team. Go out, make some friends, make an army out of those friends, blow some stuff up, and come home for dinner at the end of the day.

The group of buildings ahead of them were simple. They were made of some of the local trees.

Driving up to them, Jeb stopped the jeep and jumped out.

It was unusually quiet here.

Jeb then saw one of those strange Kerbal-like pale colored creatures walking around. It was holding a stick in its hand.

"Ey!" Jeb exclaimed to him. "Hello!"

The Kerbal-like creature froze, turned its head around, yelped, and ran into a building.

According to the Public Relations branch, anyone that isn't attacking them is friendly.

So Jeb just left it at that.

Returning to the jeeps, Valentina asked,"Any luck?"

"No. I saw one, but it ran away."

Bob Kerman, who was rummaging in the trunk of one of the jeeps for science supplies, poked his head up. "You need help?" he asked.

"Probably."

Jeb and Bob both went to the cluster of buildings together, and they stopped by one particularly large building. Bob knocked on the door.

The door opened, and one of those Kerbal-like creatures opened the door. It was taller than the one Jeb saw earlier.

It spoke something in gibberish, before slamming the door.

Bob knocked again, and when they didn't open the door, he opened it himself.

The Kerbal-like creature retreated back.

Bob just made a few hand gestures. He was holding out a Kerbal book, pointing at it and the words, and then pointed at a bookshelf inside the building.

The Kerbal-like creature realized Bob had no malicious intent and gave Bob one of their books. Bob didn't have much on him except for a few spare Cubic Octagonal Struts, so he gave those.

Headed back for their jeeps, Jeb asked,"What did you do, Bob?"

"Oh," Bob Kerman replied. "I just asked for a dictionary."

Seemed reasonable.

* * *

Later, the group were headed towards a forest fire they detected nearby.

Because fire and Kerbals mix very, very well, right?

Really, they were bored and just wanted to see a bit of the local wildlife burn to the ground.

What they _didn't_ expect was to see a huge winged beast fly through the air. When they arrived at the site that was on fire, they found out it was a village.

Or what used to be one.

The only parts of the village intact were the stone parts of buildings. There were also a few burnt creatures laying about. None of them were alive.

However, Jeb happened to look at a hole in the ground lined with rocks around. There was water at the bottom, along with one unburnt and uninjured creature.

According to what Bob has managed to translate from the book, this particular creature had pointed extrusions on the side of their head called _ears_. The ones with pointed ears are Elves, while the ones without pointed ears are generally this other species called Human.

They decided to bring the Elf specimen with them. Driving the jeeps through the burnt buildings and then through the forest, they planned to get home quickly, since the Kerbals at main base had proper medical equipment.

Upon arriving at that village they encountered earlier, Bob Kerman managed to converse roughly with the villagers with what he learned. He told them about that weird flying winged creature that fired fire out of its mouth like a Rockomax-brand engine.

They promptly panicked, and said to the Kerbals that they witnessed a large flying creature called a _Fire Dragon_ burn down a village.

They then explained that the Fire Dragon would most likely attack the village if it isn't evacuated. The villagers also told the Kerbals they should leave for their safety.

The Kerbal refused, and insisted to stay to help the evacuation.

* * *

"I'm helping these people load their cargo, alright?"

"Okay, then. I'm going to see if there are any bumps or holes in the road."

"I'll radio to the base. They'll probably send a few escort vehicles to help us."

"Hustle, everyone!"

All four Kerbals were busy helping with the local populace. As of now, almost the entire village was ready to leave.

That was, until disaster struck, in a way.

One of the wagons in the front of the convoy collapsed under its own weight and was blocking the road. Jeb Kerman was getting everyone out of it.

However, the creature pulling that wagon (it was called a horse, according to the villagers) had panicked and nearly knocked over Bill when he tried to calm it. It was also dangerously close to one of the smaller Humans, one that was thrown out of the wagon and laid on the ground, injured.

This one strangely dressed blue-haired human ran over and kneeled beside the injured Human.

And then, the horse, still bound to the fallen wagon, flailed around, ready to fall onto the two Humans.

It was then that Jeb knew he could only do one thing.

Pulling out his Seperatron-powered gun, he fired three of his twelve shots into the horse.

This red liquid sprayed everywhere.

Later, Bob would tell Jeb that the red liquid was blood, a thick liquid that all creatures in this world have to survive. Lack of blood, he said, would cause death, and overdose of blood would cause unplanned spontaneous detonation and thus, death.

Jeb really wished Bob didn't tell him that.

With the two Humans saved, the wagon cleared from the road and repaired, and everyone ready to move, the convoy of wagons moved out.

But these are Kerbals, so something weird is bound to happen sooner or later.

* * *

 _Agh, I keep writing in first person. It's getting annoying for me to have to go back and check._

 _Bob can learn a new language in less than two hours. CauseTheyreKerbals._


	5. Khapter 5: PressMat Barometer

_alexkehling: I'm not good at writing different POVs, but I will try.  
And one does not simply "Find Out Why Kerbals Like Exploding Stuff"._

 _Ridli Scott: Yes, pretty much. She won't beat up Zorzal with a strut connector, though. I figured that the FTX-2 External Fuel Duct would do.  
Because it really fuels the plot of the story, right?  
...sorry._

* * *

 _"This is the Kerbal Base to Jebediah Kerman, how are you guys doing there?"_

Jebediah Kerman replied in a happy tone,"We're up and ready for anything that is thrown our way!"

 _"Kerbal Base to Jebediah, we read that the convoy you requested cannot come. They had to deal with a kraken that flung one of the vehicles into orbit. No casualties reported."_

Jebediah sighed. "Is the jeep worth saving?"

 _"What do you think?"_

Jebediah slammed his head onto the control panel.

"What's wrong?" Valentina asked.

"Main base reported in. They couldn't send an escort."

Valentina nodded. "Figures."

The long line of wagons behind the jeep was closely monitored by Bill and Bob's jeep, which was at the back of the convoy. They were making sure nothing happened to the wagons.

Earlier, one of the wagons got stuck and they had to push it out with the jeep.

Another time a hostile group of Humans attempted an attack. The hostiles were ready to jump out of their attack wagons when a Kerbal jeep rammed into it.

Around 800-kilograms' worth of metal made contact with 80 kilograms of wooden structure. The end product was one that didn't take much imagination to picture.

Up ahead, Jebediah Kerman noticed an anomaly. A group of little black flying creatures was flying above a certain point on the other side of the hill.

Curious, Jeb said to Valentina,"Move up the jeep a few more meters. There's something weird over there."

Valentina was about to do so, until someone passed over the top of the hill into viewing range.

A young female Human, wearing a strange red-black uniform and wielding a pole with a bladed end.

Jebediah didn't deem her as a threat. "Val, kill the engine for now."

"Okay."

As that Human got closer, Jeb spoke into his radio to Bob and Bill.

"This is Jeb Kerman to Bob Kerman, mind coming up to the front of the convoy?"

 _"What is it?"_

"Translating."

When the Human was within twenty meters of the convoy, some of the smaller Humans ran up to her. They seemed to look at her as something like a model figure, or something like that.

Jeb was now assured that she was not going to be too hostile.

Deciding to meet her in person, he stood up, out of the EAS-1 External Command Seat. He stepped one foot out of the vehicle.

And promptly face-planted when his other foot got stuck on the jeep's wheels.

Well, he didn't technically face-plant, as he was wearing a space helmet.

He got up again, only to bump his head on the rear-view mirror of the rover and fall onto his back.

He finally managed to get up without falling down, and walked towards the Human.

Only to be interrupted as he was smacked full-on by the bumper of Bob and Bill's car. He flew over the hood of the car before flying into the vehicle.

Jeb got up again and really wanted to punch Bob in the face, but they needed him to translate.

The red-black clad Human walked up to the front of the vehicle, and said something.

"What is she saying?" Jeb asked.

"She's asking if this is your normal routine."

Jebediah just fell to the ground. "I give up. You can negotiate for now."

At the same time, an internal glovebox that was right above Jebediah opened, and out tumbled a PressMat Barometer, hitting Jeb on the head.

Meanwhile, Bob Kerman was conversing with that Human.

In the native language of the area, they spoke.

[Special Region Language]

"So, your friend has a habit of giving up?" the Human asked.

"Nope." Bob responded. "He just happened to trigger his Karma to attack him."

"Karma?"

"What you do is what you get, basically. He's a daredevil, and famous for getting out of impossible situations. To compensate for that, there are times where something routine wouldn't work out for him."

"Oh, I understand."

Bob and the Human was quiet for about five seconds in a strange, awkward silence.

"Oh, how rude I was not to introduce myself. My name is Rory Mercury, Apostle of Emroy, God of Darkness, War, Death, Violence, and Insanity."

"I'm Bob Kerman, Kerbal Space Program scientist and researcher."

Bob Kerman got out of his truck. Kerbals, being one meter tall, were dwarfed when compared to most Humans. Rory Mercury, standing at a height of 1.62 meters tall, was about a third of a meter taller than a Kerbal. And that was only because Bob Kerman was wearing a helmet; if he wasn't, he would stand only 0.75 meters tall.

Bob Kerman then asked,"So, you are friendly, I assume?"

Rory swung her weapon over her shoulder. "Only if you don't attack any of my true followers, or me."

 _'Alright',_ Bob thought. " _'So as long as we don't get her angry, we're safe.'_

"And what are these strange wagons you have here? I have never seen anything like them," she asked, pointing her large axe-like weapon at one of the jeeps.

"They're transport vehicles. They're self propelled, since they only use electricity and motors to run."

"Self propelled, hm? It sounds useful."

"Very," Bob replied.

Bob Kerman then heard the terrified shrieks of many of the Humans behind him. Turning around, he saw the large winged beast that burned down the village from earlier.

[Kerbal Language]

He quickly jumped into his jeep. "Battle stations, everyone! Jeb, get to the other jeep!" he yelled in Kerbal Language.

Jebediah Kerman, d"espite being hit in the head several times with various objects earlier, jumped out of the vehicle quickly into the jeep Valentina was controlling. The two jeeps traversed towards the dragon before quickly moving.

"What's the plan?" Valentina yelled over the sound of the chaos.

"I don't know! Just attack it!"

Jeb poked his head out of his jeep and aimed with his seperatron gun. Firing a few shots, they exploded all over the dragon.

Not a scratch.

Jeb saw, at the corner of his eye, the Human throwing her large ax-like projectile at the dragon. It sliced apart the ground right under it, making the dragon topple over.

"This is Jebediah Kerman to Main Base, we need help here?"

 _"This is the main base, what do you need help for?"_

"Do you have any missiles that can take out a dragon?"

 _"What's a dragon?"_

Resisting the urge to let out an irritated sigh, Jeb yelled,"Just fire a missile aimed for that weird large flying creature!"

 _"Affirmative."_

Jeb then radioed to the rest of the group. "Bob, Bill, distract that dragon for as long as you can! Just don't let it get anywhere near the Humans!"

 _"Alright."_

The two jeeps constantly harassed the dragon. Bob Kerman's jeep, which was loaded with a small missile on it, attempted to fire the missile. However, it missed.

Jeb saw a bright streak of light coming front the sky, right onto the dragon.

"Everyone get down! The missile is going to hit!"

The large missile, made of struts, solid rocket boosters, and spare parts welded onto it, hit the dragon and detonated.

And in that moment, the dragon was in so many pieces.

Even five weeks after the battle, one could find the remains of the dragon scattered across a three-kilometer radius.

* * *

Rory was watching the battle between the dragon and the armored wagons. The two wagons would constantly annoy the dragon with little shots. It seemed like the battle would go on forever.

And then, like a bright spear descending from the heavens, a line of light went straight for the dragon, and hit.

Rory's eyes widened slightly, seeing the carnage.

She smiled, and licked her lips.

Emroy will be pleased.

* * *

 _Yes, I'm an American that uses the Metric System, a rare breed. Deal with it :P_

 _Did I depict Rory correctly in this chapter? I need feedback._


	6. Khapter 6: M-2x2 Structural Panel

_You guys wondering how I can still see reviews despite the Fanfiction glitch going on right now? I use_ _the option that sends you a copy of the review posted thru to my email. So even though they don't show up on the site, I can still see_ _them._

 _I heard they'll fix the glitch sometimes Tuesday or Wednesday._

 _alexkehling: Explosions are like cigarettes. Once you start taking 'em, you can almost never stop._

 _Ridli Scott: Yeah, the Kerbals have a friendlier look, but it's probably also because they're extremely clumsy._

 _Also, I noticed that Khapter 4 was 1,148 words long, and Khapter 5 was 1,418 words long._

 _Enjoy!_

 _P.S. Play the Interstellar song "First Step" while reading._

* * *

The four Kerbals stood in a straight line, all of them looking at something parallel to them.

There were several flowers and graves laid out in front of them. The people of the village were behind them.

No words were exchanged.

After they mourned for the dead, the Kerbals loaded up their vehicles, and the villagers gathered up what was left of their wagon convoy.

However, the Village Leader had to speak with Bob Kerman about something.

[Special Region Language]

"Hey, um, may I ask you something?" the Village Leader asked Bob.

Bob replied,"What? Do you need help with anything?"

The Village Leader pointed to a group of young Humans sitting at a ruined cart. There were also a few old Humans there, too.

"Forgive me for this, but may you take care of these people? They have lost their parents or are too old to work. We don't want to leave them out to die, and we hoped that you would give them a chance."

Bob Kerman thought about that. Keeping Humans as refugees? On one hand, they could study the humans using passive tactics and give themselves a good reputation, however it would cost them resources.

"I have to ask Jebediah about it first," Bob finally replied. When the Village Leader looked at him, confused, since names don't translate very well, Bob pointed to Jeb.

"He's the leader of our group."

The Village Leader nodded.

[Kerbal Language]

Bob Kerman walked over to Jeb.

"Hey, Jeb! Mind if I ask you something?"

Jebediah turned around. "Alright, go ahead."

Bob Kerman then asked,"The leader of this village requested that we take into our care a few of the younger and older Humans that cannot fend for themselves. Should we?"

Jebediah Kerman, although labelled as a "badS" by the Kerbals, is not heartless, and he quickly decides,"Yep."

"But Jeb, Main Base might get-"

"I have made my mind."

"But what if-"

"I can shut 'em up."

"But that means-"

"You seriously think I don't know the art of fisticuffs?"

Bob Kerman shut up that moment. It was obvious that once Jeb had made his mind, he had made his mind.

When the rest of the village left, they were left with about ten young Humans, three old ones, and the strange Human that Bob said was named "Rory Mercury". While the sun set and the Humans got sleepy, Kerbals required a lot less sleep, with about seven hours a week at most. So half of the Humans were split between the two jeeps.

While the vehicles were driving towards the Main Base, the Humans inside all asleep, and the headlights on, Jeb peered into the sky.

Up there were millions of stars. Although no different then looking up from Kerbin on a cloudless night, it was beautiful nonetheless.

Radioing to Bob's truck while driving, Jeb said,"Bob. Look at the sky."

The other side of the comms was quiet for a moment.

 _"For what?"_

"Don't you realize?" Jeb asked. "It's not just a new planet, _it's a new solar system!_ We can now literally explore further than the Kerbol System! Just look at the opportunities this presents!"

 _"Opportunities? Like wha-?"_

"Stuff! Stuff like Science! Kethane! Resources!"

Jeb looked in the back of the truck, at the sleeping Humans.

"...And the chance to explore the cosmos with another species, to enjoy the beautiful sights of space alongside each other."

Most didn't know, but the Kerbals desperately wanted to partner up with other species. Ever since Wernher von Kerman suggested that there "could be other life-forms out there" in the year 0.20, the entire Kerbal species have been on the hunt for another intelligent species, launching hundreds of Deep-Space probes, space telescopes, building land-base scanners, and throwing out radio communications everywhere.

Not a single message was returned.

Ever since year 0.24.1, they had halted the missions, as they were not efficient nor did they give back much. Because of that, the KSC started investing in more technologies, and year 1.0 had marked the new age of Kerbal Technology and Science. Also known as the "Beta then Ever" revolution.

However, with the finding of the GATE and the exploration force sent through it, this might as well mark the end of "Beta then Ever" time period, and move into a new one.

Although it has not been officially announced, most Kerbals agree that the "Beta then Ever" was a short, abet impacting revolution in Kerbal Technology, and it was coming to a close.

Right now, it is the year 1.1.2, and improvements from the "Beta then Ever" era lead to new and improved tech.

Time changes so much, doesn't it?

* * *

When they arrived at the Main Base, it had changed completely. Now, there were walls built of M-2x2 Structural Panels, and they were reinforced with struts. Apperantly, the Main Base has gotten a new name - the K.O.B., which stands for Kerbal Operating Base.

Kethane was found in large amounts around the KOB, and miners and drillers were harvesting the Kethane. A few small rovers and carts brought the Kethane ore back to the KOB to be converted to Liquidfuel and Oxidizer.

Jeb drove up to the front gate of the KOB, and it opened, letting them in. A Kerbal on a nearby watchtower waved to him before yelling,"Ey! How did the trip go?"

Jeb waved back. His quick instincts, however, made his eyes dart back to the road and he slammed on the brakes.

Jeb just stared at the road in front of him for about a minute. Getting out of the truck, he looked around for a Kerbal to yell at.

Finding one Kerbal, he grabbed the Kerbal by the helmet and shook him.

 _"What in the name of Jool's Kraken do the engineers think, building the runway right through the road?!"_

* * *

 _The Interstellar theme, "First Step", really influenced some parts of this chapter._

 _Now that both my stories have six chapters, don't expect such frequent updates on either stories. I'm planning to flip-flop updating both. I, however, will still read reviews and take into consideration suggestions._


	7. Khapter 7: Radiator Panels

_Nuking the planet is a fun pastime._

 _Ridli Scott: "laugh more is painful now"_

 _It took me about three days to notice that mistake. Ahhh, the wonders of_

 _of the human mind._

* * *

Rory Mercury, Apostle of Emroy, and nearly a thousand years old, was not one that could easily be surprised.

Waking up, she found herself in that metal wagon from those little dwarf-like creatures. Around her were the children, still asleep.

She stood up, or stood up as high as she could, as the ceiling of the wagon wasn't that high. She pushed open the back of the wagon, and was met with quite a sight.

She saw several flying... would creatures be the right word? They were large, metallic, and their wings did not flap. Instead, smoke seemed to disperse from the ends of them. They made loud whistling and roaring sounds in the air.

Several self-propelled wagons moved across the stone streets laid on the ground.

"Ey, ya sleep well last night?"

Rory recognized the voice. Turning her head, she saw that Green-Dwarf, the one named Bob Kerman.

"Yes. I slept well," Rory replied. She looked out at the flying objects in the air. "What are these strange flying creatures your species possess?"

"Those?" Bob asked, pointing at them. "The ones that always go straight are planes. The ones that go up and down are VTOLS."

Rory nodded.

"Now that you decided to take these children in," she asked, changing the topic. "Where will you house them?"

Bob pointed behind them. "We built a few shelters back there. It costed us a lot of metal modular girder segments. Lots of them."

Rory frowned. "Metal? Wouldn't that weight the structures down considerably and heat them up a lot?"

Bob shook his head. "Nope. We placed Radiator cooling panels on the outside, and just in case if it gets too cold we also added fuel cells to warm the place and to make electricity. All the buildings have independent electrical systems, however they can be connected to an emergency source."

Although Rory could not understand most of that, she assumed, from context, that the buildings were well-built.

"What is your organization name?" she asked Bob.

* * *

Two Kerbals were standing by a computer.

"Something happened to one of our drones?" one asked.

"Yep," the other replied. "According to the data we managed to stitch together, it was shot down somewhere west of us, above a forest."

"Exact specs?"

"750 meter altitude, 50 meters per second velocity, fuel at 70% capacity, engines at 40% thrust, shot down twenty minutes after launched from the KOB. Model 3B Reconnaissance Drone with a Stayputnik computer."

The second Kerbal thought for a second.

"How do you know it was shot down? It could've been engine failure or strut collapse."

The first Kerbal opened up a video file. It played a recording of the drone's wing.

A large, metal object hit the wing and embedded itself in the wing.

"That, by itself, was not enough to bring it down," the first Kerbal said.

Two more hit the wing, shredding it. The drone spiraled down before hitting the ground. The screen displayed [LOST CONNECTION].

"Nothing we fought against in this world had the capability of hitting a drone 3/4ths a kilometer in the air at a steady rate of 50 meters per second."

"Does that mean that whoever shot it down should be immediately labelled as a threat?"

"Not yet."

"Does anyone else know of this?"

"Only a few other engineers."

"Alright. Don't tell anyone else; we don't want to cause a panic."

"Affirmative, Gene Kerman."

* * *

Jebediah Kerman was hard at work, studying the local language. It was now a requirement for Kerbals at the KOB to study the language of this region, so to communicate with the natives.

They also had built some shelter for the refugees. Originally, a few Kerbals opposed that because they believed some of the Humans had "Metal Intolerance" or something of the sort. They were debunked when it was pointed out to them that the Humans they fought in the battle wore metal armor.

The bodies that were around the hill after the battle were taken by Kerbal scientists and dissected. They gained lots of science from that.

Don't ask what Human bodies and rocket science has in common.

According to intel given by Rory Mercury and the other villagers, their base was at a place called the "Holy Alnus Hill". Originally, Jeb thought "Holy" as in filled with holes, as they had tons of mining vessels digging up the place, however the real definition of "Holy" was a sacred or valued place.

The country they're fighting against won't be happy.

* * *

Lelei La Lalena watched the little "Kerbal" creatures building a few structures out of metal. She wondered how the buildings stood, as metal was normally very heavy.

Their organization was called the Kerbal Space Program, or "Kay Esp Ee" for short, they said. Earlier, she asked them what kind of magic they used to power the metal.

They replied that it was not magic, but simply this thing called "Technology." Is "Technology" a new type of magic? Necromancy? To wield such incredible power.

Lelei wanted to learn more.

* * *

"Alright, you said that we have a new company in our pool o' suppliers?" Jeb asked.

Mortimer Kerman, the Kerbal involved with the finances and contracts, had told Jeb about the new company that will sell parts to the Space Program.

"What is it this time? New winglets? Rockets? Wait, let me guess: Struts to play with?"

Mortimer held up his hand. "Nope. The new company is in charge of supplying us with weapons."

Jeb stopped for a moment. "...weapons?"

Mortimer sat at his chair. "Have a seat. I shall explain."

Jeb sat down.

"The company that is supplying us, BahamutoD Laboratories, or more commonly known as BDArmory, is a weapon manufacturing group that builds rockets, guns, and bombs _for the sole purpose of fighting._ You would not be able to launch one of their missiles into space, however they are a lot easier to mount and more steerable than the Solid Rocket Booster ones we use."

Mortimer drew out a diagram. "You see, our home-built weapons rely on pure force to kill. Even SRBs, they would not do anything if they exploded near their opponent. Well, they would, but nowhere as much damage if it was a direct hit. However, BDArmory's weaponry doesn't just reply on pure velocity - they also rely on heat mechanics."

"Heat Mechanics?" Jeb asked.

"You know how stuff normally overheats and explodes while deorbiting? BDArmory's weapons do the same thing: they transfer heat to the thing they're aiming at, in the form of bullets, bombs, missiles, and even lasers."

Jeb stopped Mortimer there. "Look, most of this is going over my head. Just give me a report so I can read it later, understand?"

Before Mortimer could reply, Bob Kerman ran in. "Hey, Jebediah, the refugees living here requested something from us."

"What is it?" Jeb replied.

"You know those little flying dragons we shot down a few days back in the battle? The locals said the scales of them are worth a fortune, and they want us to bring them to the nearest town to sell them."

Jeb nodded. "Can do. Let's go."

"But wait-" Mortimer attempted to say, however Jeb has gone already.

"...you weren't authorized to go yet..."

* * *

 _All the Kerbals I use in this story are actual ones from the game. Mortimer Kerman is the Finances Kerbal in the KSC._

 _And BDArmory is a KSP mod. I downloaded it about two weeks ago. It's fun. And those overheat mechanics are true, too. It took me quite awhile to realize that all the armor in the world isn't worth much if heat could just burn the command pod inside. So the radiators they added recently help alot with the armor._


	8. Khapter 8: LV-1R Spider Engine

_Modern Armed Force: I don't think the Kerbals would resort to such a tactic, unless there was an impenetrable fortress somewhere that they need flattened or they really, really want something dead. Probably the most they'll do is send up a spy satellite._

 _I kept telling myself to finish this chapter before I play War Thunder. Such an addicting game._

* * *

A Kerbal jet, a Ravenspear Mk1 fitted with a BDArmory camera on the bottom, was flying above the area the Kerbal drone was shot down. On its wings were the newest weapons developed - a Browning .50 cal AN/M2 machine gun. However, the idiots who placed the guns on the aircraft forgot the ammo, so shooting anything is not an option...

The Kerbal inside caught sight of the downed drone - the remnants of it were lying in the forest.

The Ravenspear flew down to about 200 meters, before a metal object flew by the plane. Another one hit the wing, going right through it.

"This is Ravenspear Mk1, I'm under assault. Retreating to base; I think my camera has caught their position!"

The Ravenspear maneuvered around quickly. Despite the hole in its wing, it still flew around pretty well.

 _"Affirmative. We have position on the hostiles."_

* * *

As the convoy of Kerbal jeeps rode along the road, Jeb saw something in the distance.

Picking up his binoculars (Which, in truth, was just two Double-C Seismic Accelerometers put together), he looked through them. There was smoke rising in the distance.

"I thought we killed that fire dragon already?" Jeb asked. "Or is that fire from something else?"

In the group was Bob Kerman, Jeb Kerman, Valentina Kerman, and Bill Kerman. There was also those Humans, Lelei and Rory, and that one Elf that just woke up, who was named Tuka.

"Bob, you think this road leads anywhere near the fire?"

Bob replied,"I presume it leads _directly_ to the fire. You see how the road slowly curves towards that direction up ahead?"

The group continued, until they saw stone walls in the distance. There was a city over there, parts of it aflame.

"Everyone on high alert!" Valentina Kerman spoke into the radio.

When they neared the walls, a stray arrow flew out and scraped off the top of the first jeep.

"All Kerbals, hold your fire," Jeb said. "Don't actually open up on them until they fire like, a boulder or something."

The two jeeps stopped right in front of the large wall. There was a gate of wood and metal right at the end of the road.

"I'll go out first," Jeb said. He then opened the door to the side of the jeep, and stepped out.

...only to trip on a rock and fall face-first.

Yet again.

Jeb got up and he heard laughter on top of the wall.

"You seem to have a habit of doing that," Rory Mercury said to him, walking past Jeb.

"It's not my fault there are so many strategically placed rocks!" Jeb exclaimed.

Valentina replied to that,"But it's your fault you keep strategically tripping over them."

The Kerbals and Humans walked up to the gate, and Jeb knocked on it.

"Knock kno-" Jeb said, before the gate's door slammed into his face.

Now, Jeb was used to being hit a lot. Especially by flying rocket parts, winglets, struts, and the ground. So being hit in the face by that door wasn't too bad.

It was the door falling on him _after_ he was hit that got him.

Everyone in the group looked at the door that Jeb was now flattened under, in slight shock. Even the Human female that opened the door.

And then, the door was cut open as if it was being sliced open by a blowtorch. After it was cut right through the middle, Jeb punched his way out from under the door.

"You see, guys? This is why I always keep my LV-1R Spider Liquid Fuel Engine on hand along with some spare fuel!"

* * *

The group of Kerbals were requested, by the one leading the soldiers of this city, Princess Pina Co Lada, in assistance for defending the city against bandits. She had heard of these creature's success in killing the Fire Dragon, and believed them to be her only salvation.

"If there is anyone that could do it," she said, all of them sitting around a table. "It would be you."

Jebediah already had his response.

"We _can_ defend the city, but it'll cost ya," Jeb replied,

"Cost? What cost?"

"You see, we can't just spring into battle without a reason. I need to send a message back to my base to call in reinforcements, since my orders were to 'Attack if only attacked.' Now, I can probably stand right in front of the bandit army and let them attack me, and give that as a reason, but that's just cheap, not to mention if things get bad the only thing I would be able to call in is an evacuation for my team."

Despite the fact Jeb was happy-go-lucky, that doesn't mean he is not good at negotiating or plans, especially last-second plans.

Later that day, Jeb radioed back to his base about the attack and a treaty. The Kerbals at the KOB replied that they will drop in a few VTOLs with soldiers.

As for the negotiations and treaty, since Jeb was the highest rank in this world, he was the only one authorized to negotiate or make treaties.

When everyone met up again, Jeb spoke the terms of the treaty:

"So, here is the treaty. This city, the City of Italica, and the Kerbal Space Program, or KSP, will not show open hostilities between each other-"

"Wait," Pina interrupted. "If this is a treaty, wouldn't it be obvious not to show aggression towards each other?"

Jeb just looked at Pina. "I'll tell you this: Back in my world, you wouldn't believe the amount of times different manufacturing companies opened old wounds and became hostile towards each other just because of the 'it wasn't written on the treaty' excuse. So I'm keeping it in."

Jeb continued reading down the treaty. "All trade going in and out Italica will remain in control of the leaders of this city. The Kerbals will acknowledge and respect the citizens of this city, and your citizens will acknowledge and respect us back. The city will be defended as if it was our own. In return, we would like to build a ground-to-orbit communication array in this city. Italica will be classified as 'KSP Territory'. Do you accept this treaty? If so, sign here," Jeb pointed at the line at the bottom with his pen.

Pina looked at the treaty again, reading the words. The terms seemed acceptable. She also assumed that these 'Kerbal', as they called themselves, would not plunder and destroy the city.

So she signed it.

* * *

"You all have your seperatron weapons loaded?!" Jeb exclaimed over the sound of VTOL engines at the troops dropped down here.

"Affirmative!"

"Yes, sir!"

"Ready to blow up some bandits!"

Jeb replied,"Good! We are all ready, then!"

They were positioned all at the east gate of the city. It was dark, and the attack would come anytime soon.

And, to their luck, they started hearing battle cries at the north of the city.

The Kerbal soldiers were displeased, Jeb was annoyed, and Rory twitched a little.

"Get in the jeeps," he said to the group. "Looks like it'll take us a bit of time to get there."

Rory, instead of getting inside a jeep, just jumped onto the rooftops on the buildings and started running at an extraordinary pace.

Jeb watched Rory run away. "We'll just leave her to do whatever she is doing. Let's go."

The jeeps, armed with Kerbal soldiers, moved out.

* * *

The battle wasn't going too well. The Bandits took the wall, raining arrows upon the militia and civilians.

However, the 'Kerbals' arrived in their metal wagon, crushing the Bandits in the way.

Pina watched, awestruck. These were the same creatures inhabiting Alnus hill?

A rotating piece on top of one of the vehicles threw a few blue rings at the bandits, and then the bandits exploded as if they were hit with a fireball.

And the Apostle of Emroy? She was absolutely mass-slaughtering the Bandits.

One of the female 'Kerbals' rushed in alongside Rory. She was wielding a strange weapon: A pole that had some sort of flame coming out the end. She would jab it at a bandit and the flame would cut right through them.

A loud roar-whistle sound was heard. Looking up to the sky, Pina could only gape in horror as large metal... _pegasi..._ were dropping exploding cylinders and firing strange magic at the Bandit army.

What has the Empire got itself into?

* * *

"Close air support is here!" Jeb yelled. "They're armed with new weapons!"

BDArmory had given the Kerbals their latest new weapons: Hydra-70 Rocket Pods. They were placed on the VTOLs to ensure the most accuracy. The Hydra-70 holds 19 missiles max, all unguided.

There were also gatling guns and vulcan cannons placed on the bottom of the VTOLs.

The Bandits' armor could not hold up against missiles or bullets. They were all turned to splatters of red in an instant.

One Kerbal VTOL had a rocket pod malfuction. The rocket on it fired, but it didn't go out of the pod.

"Mayday, mayday, I'm going down!" the pilot yelled as his VTOL spiraled out of control.

He opened up the landing gear, and then the VTOL hit the ground too hard, breaking the landing gear and snapping it in half.

A few unlucky bandits were caught under the VTOL and were crushed.

In less than ten minutes, almost all the Bandits were eliminated or captured. However, there was a few bandits hiding a kilometer away. All attempts firing rockets at them or guns resulted them in missing, strangely.

So Jeb was deployed there. Upon arriving there, they killed all the bandits that didn't surrender and captured this strange Bird-Human, which Lelei said was called a "Siren".

So, the mission results:

 _Casualties: None_

 _Vehicles Lost: 1_

 _Vehicles Damaged: 3_

 _Enemy Casualties: ...A lot._

Now that the battle was over, the Kerbals plan to rebuild the city and build better defenses. They also set up a few medical facilities for the injured Humans.

All was working out well.

* * *

"Sir, we lost yet another drone to that area."

"The same area we lost that other drone?"

"Yep. We need to investigate immediately."

"I'll tell Jeb when he gets back."

* * *

 _So, yeah. Something taking down KSP Drones, a battle/slaughter, and more stuff!_

 _Around here is when it will deviate from the original Storyline._

 _Since today is Memorial day, 2016 don't forget those brave soldiers that gave their lives for our countries._


	9. Khapter 9: Mystery Goo Containment Unit

_Ridli Scott: Sending Jeb sounds a little overkill. On second thought, sending Jeb to anything is overkill._

* * *

Now that Italica was under the Kerbal's control, the Kerbals were rebuilding and reinforcing the place.

"What do you have to rebuild our homes with?" asked a citizen. "It doesn't look like you have much stone or wood to build with."

"Stone?" a Kerbal asked. "Nah, we don't use stone. We build them out of metal."

"But wouldn't that make them expensive to build?"

"Believe it or not," the Kerbal replied. "Metal is a common and cheap building material in our world. We use it a lot."

A lot of the buildings were retrofitted with cooling, heating, and electric systems. No running water yet, as the Kerbals don't want to dig out the whole underground part of the city to install water lines.

Jeb got word, from the new communication center they built in Italica, that the KOB had sent out five survey satellites to map out the topography. They also sent out two spy satellites, but Jeb thought it was a little unnecessary to send up specialized anti-radar stealth spacecraft if their enemy doesn't even know what electricity was.

There were also this group of knights that called themselves _Rose - Order of Knights_. That group of Humans and the Kerbals guarding the wall got into a heated argument and the Kerbals nearly lit up the wall and razed them to the ground had Bill not intervened.

"Jeb!" Bob yelled, as he ran towards Jeb, holding a phone. "The KOB needs some help with something!"

"If it's anything about Mainsail Jetpacks, sandwiches, or the staff getting drunk on rocket fuel, tell them I'm busy," Jeb replied as he was checking the air in one of the jeep's tires.

"You might want to hear this one, though," Bob replied. "Hostile activity over this particular forest. We lost two drones to it, and one aircraft was damaged."

" _It?_ What is _it?_ "

 _"And that's the problem!"_ Bob's patience was running out. "We don't know who they are, if their actions mean hostile or not, or _what they even are_!"

Jeb waved him off. "Just send someone else. I have more pressing matters."

"The reason the KOB called you was because everyone else was too scared to go."

Jeb sighed. He stood up and opened the door to his jeep.

"You going?" Bob asked.

"Yeah. I'm going alone," Jeb replied.

"Hang on just a second."

Jeb heard a very familiar voice nearby. Rory Mercury walked towards the two, her halberd in hand.

"I'm coming along."

Jeb replied,"No you're not. I'm just going on a short recon mission; nothing to be concerned of."

"Oh~? Then who will be your escort?"

"I said to you," Jeb spoke. "I do not -"

Rory twirled her halberd in her hand 360 degrees.

Knowing he wouldn't win this argument, Jeb obliged. "Alright, you can join."

Jeb felt a hand on his shoulder.

"I will join, too."

Looking behind him, he saw Lelei La Lalena, the female Human magician.

Bob Kerman, looking at the group, said,"Just to annoy you and get back at you for that one time you pranked me, I'll join."

Jebediah sighed. He just wanted a simple recon mission, and now this?

And then, he heard a few familiar voices a few meters away...

"Jeb, you're leaving without us?"

"Hey, we're part of your expeditionary team, we're coming along!"

"I'll join, too!"

* * *

All in all, the one-Kerbal mission Jeb planned all went down.

Joining him was Bill, Bob, and Valentina. The others that also went on this trip too were Lelei, Rory, and that Elf named Tuka.

They decided to go in one large vehicle. With supplies loaded, they set off.

Bob also brought along a crate of Mystery Goo(TM) Containment Units. "For Science", he had said earlier.

Jeb was driving the vehicle right now. Speaking to everyone else in the car, he said,"I'll stop by the KOB and grab a few maps of the area for my mission. Probably a few weapons, too, as we're going against an enemy. We'll try to capture them, not kill them, as I'm interested how they took down two of our drones."

Jeb looked at Bob.

"And I still don't know why you all _had_ to join."

Bob laughed. "Don't tell me you forgot about that time I rescued you in midair from your Kamikaze plane attack."

"I didn't forget."

The group drove into the KOB, and they were met with the Kerbals running the place. They stocked up on some supplies before they headed for the forest where the downed drones were.

Rory interrupted the silence.

"You _did_ lose some soldiers fighting in Falmar, am I correct?" she asked.

"Well," Jeb replied. "We lost two soldiers in our world fighting against the Empire's army, but no deaths in this world."

Rory was silent for a moment. "When those two soldiers died, at the same time, I presume, they went straight to Emroy."

"So?" Jeb asked. "Once they're dead, they're dead. Us Kerbals can't do anything about it, we just gather the remains and move on."

Rory was slightly surprised at this. "You don't feel any remorse for those you lost?"

Shaking his head _no_ , Jeb replied,"Well, it's not that we _don't_. We are very used to deaths in our own Space Program, from accidents, explosions, and miscalculations. The longest time we've been without a casualty was about a month, and that was only because everyone was focused on getting science from newly discovered planets."

Rory nodded. "About your dead soldiers that went to Emroy, he says that they're strange."

"I'm not surprised."

The trip continues, silent, until Jeb opens up a plastic bag and pulls out a sandwich. "You hungry? I've stocked up on enough food for about a week," he spoke to everyone in the vehicle.

Rory politely refused, while Lelei accepted a sandwich. It was an interesting food, as it had a savory yet cool crunch to it.

"Y'all need anything to drink? I packed some Mountain Done* drinks, if you want any," he said, passing an opened bottle.

Lelei caught it, and inside was a slightly green liquid with bubbles rising out of it. Taking a small sip, Lelei found out it had a slightly biting but sweet sensation to it.

"Ey, buddies. Anyone else want some food?" Jeb asked one more time.

* * *

By the time they reached the target area, it was nighttime. The headlights of the vehicle were on, and Jeb was holding his flashlight.

"Keep an eye out for anything," Valentina Kerman said. "This is the area where our air units said the projectiles that took down our drones came from."

Bill, looking around, didn't seem to find anything. "I think there is nothing around here-"

He smacked into a large object.

"What th...?"

Jeb aimed his flashlight at Bill's position. There was a large wooden and metal object there.

"What's this?" he asked. "Val, can you turn the car's headlights towards this direction? I need to see what this is."

"Alright."

The car's powerful fog light revealed a large weapon that looked like a cross between a slingshot and a crossbow.

"So this is the thing that has been shooting at our planes the whole time?" Jeb asked, examining it. Beside the large weapon was a crate filled with some wooden and metal poles, presumably as ammo for it.

"That _is_ strange," Lelei spoke. "I have never heard of any weapon built that was this sophisticated."

Rory, however, wanted just to get to the point. "Why don't we just find whoever was using this thing?" she complained. "I mean, it's caused you enough trouble already, why not destroy it right here?"

Jeb was still skeptical, though. "They always say, back at home, ' _Don't take luck for granted_.' I have seen it lead to the death of numerous Kerbals, most which could have been prevented. I don't think it is as simple as destroying this."

Unbeknownst to the group, a lone figure scuttled a few meters away from them, spear in hand. They gripped their spear in anticipation, ready to strike.

Jeb looked around, to find someone jumping down at him and lunging a spear at his head.

* * *

 _You're welcome._


	10. Khapter 10: 48-75 Spark Engine

_Hello guys._

 _Ridli Scott: That is, if they didn't blow up Emroy's realm yet._

 _Sigma-del-Prisium: If we knew what was in the Mystery Goo(TM) Containment Unit, that'll ruin the fun. Also, I'm not too familiar with Roman history. The Empire has a few Ballistias and Scorpio weapons fielded, maybe kept a secret from everyone? And the crossbow-weapon the group encountered is meant to be more sophisticated than either one of those._

* * *

The second the tip of the spear hit Jeb's helmet, it shattered into a few hundred pieces. The

person pulled their spear back, looked at the broken tip in what seemed like surprise, before they were smacked in the head.

By a Mystery Goo(TM) Containment Unit.

Jeb looked to his right, where the Mystery Goo(TM) Containment Unit came from, and Tuka was holding a few, ready to throw more.

"I told ya we needed to bring those with us," Bob replied, slightly smug.

Jeb just rolled his eyes and shook his head, before looking at his attacker. In the dim light, he saw that they had gray-blue hair as long as Tuka's, and was wearing what looked like a gray shirt and pants.

Rory walked up to the person, and kneeled down to examined them. Rory pushed away a bit of the hair from the head, to reveal two triangle shaped protrusions from their head. "She appears to be one of the Cat-People, although I do not recognize the clothes she is currently wearing."

"I think we found our culprit," Bill said, as he walked from the strange crossbow.

"How are you so sure?" Jeb asked.

"She _did_ attack you without provocation, and we shouldn't be too careful."

Jeb replied,"Alright, then. Load her in the vehicle so we can get back to base for interrogation. Also, I'm pretty sure we can load the slingshot-crossbow weapon onto the top of our jeep. "

* * *

The group had safely loaded the slingshot-crossbow onto the jeep, and the Cat-Person they found was in the back of the jeep, guarded by Rory. They didn't bring any rope with then, so they had to use a few Modular Girder Segments to secure the weapon atop the jeep, and Rory, upon seeing a ROUND-8 Torodial Fuel Tank to bind the Cat-Person's arms together.

"Are we ready to go? I'm driving this time," Jeb said to everyone in the group. "And we're on a tight schedual, too, so hold on."

"Why do we need to hold o-" Lelei was asking, before she was nearly thrown backwards by the sudden acceleration of the jeep. In about three seconds the jeep went from 0 meters per second to nearly 15 meters per second.

"What the heck, Jeb?!" Valentina exclaimed, holding onto her seat.

"Don't worry! The 48-75 Spark Liquid Fuel Engine doesn't overheat that fast!"

"What?!"

Jeb was not taking any chances with the wheels on the Jeep, and he extended the aircraft landing gear on the bottom of the vehicle, while the Jeep kept bouncing on the road and hitting rocks. He kept an eye on the fuel gauge for that Liquid Fuel Engine he placed on the rover.

"I see the hill over the horizon!" Jeb yelled. At the same time the group was returning, the KOB was just getting ready to launch another spacecraft.

Rory, Tuka, and Lelei watched, all in various states of amazement, as a bright 'spear' seemingly ascended into the heavens, leaving behind a smoke trail.

"Looks like the KOB has gotten themselves busy launching more satellites! But seriously, why do we need to put more in orbit?" Bob asked.

"Out of all people, Bob, you should know better than any of us here."

Jeb kept driving the jeep to the hill, until he got to the wall separating the KOB from the rest of this world.

"We're back home, buddies," Jeb said as he taxied the jeep into a garage. "Bob, Bill, tell the other Kerbals to put the Cat-Person we captured into one of our metal security warehouses. I'll need to leave to the KSC soon."

"Leave?" Valentina asked. "For what?"

"Well, they requested I tell them of current events at the KOB, as everyone here forgot to contact the KSC once we got the discoveries up and all."

"Oh," Bob replied. "Makes sense."

Jeb hopped out of the jeep, before something in the sky caught his eye. It was an Albatross 3 Reconnaissance Aircraft, smoke coming out of its engine. It made an extremely rough landing on the ground, before the pilot stumbled out. Jeb ran over and asked,"What happened?"

"Ya know that fire dragon thingy we killed a few days back?" the Kerbal asked, still slightly dazed. "That thing 'ad friends, and they ain't happy. I ran into 'em and they burnt out me plane."

Jeb heard two loud roars above the KOB. Looking up at the source of the roars, he saw two dragons, smaller than the fire dragon they fought a few days ago.

He yelled to all the Kerbals,"Enemy air attack! Sound the alarms!"

A few seconds later, the air raid siren sounded, red lights flashing in various areas of the base.

 _"All Kerbals, man your battle stations, man your battle stations!"_

The Kerbals rushed to their mounted 50. Caliber Browning machine guns and proceeded to open fire. However, the machine guns just weren't strong enough to deal with the dragons.

Both of them swooped down, and unleashed a blazing fire from their mouths onto some buildings. They swooped up again, and the builidngs they caught ablaze started exploding. The fire alarms started up, mixing into a symphony of air raid siren, fire alarm, and machine gun fire.

 _"All fire crews, report to Hangar 3! It's been hit!"_

A few Kerbal water trucks drove by quickly. Nearby, Jeb heard the sound of 30mm cannon rounds firing extremely quickly from the Gatling gun as a BDArmory Goalkeeper CIWS Anti-air fired quickly at the dragons. The 30mm rounds exploded all over the two dragons, not piercing their armor but destabilizing them in flight.

A few Ravenspear Mk3s were taxxing out to the runway. The Ravenspear Mk3s were designed for air-to-air engagements, and they were loaded with a few hidden vulcan cannons and air-to-air missiles on them.

One of the dragons swooped down and engulfed two of the Ravenspear Mk3s in flames. One Ravenspear was about to liftoff before it caught on fire, and it flipped over and promptly exploded. Another Ravenspear was trying to take off, however the debris from the first Ravenspear hit the wing of it and it swerved into a group of parked Aeris 3A aircraft, destroying itself and the unfortunate Aeris' in the process.

Lelei ran up next to Jeb, her staff in hand. She stopped next to Jeb, watching the buildings burning and exploding.

Jeb spotted something nearby. Looking at it, he saw it was a Kerbal armored vehicle, loaded with a few missiles on it. He ran over to it, and turned on the vehicle.

"So, this uses AIM-120 AMRAAM Missiles, whatever those are," Jeb noted, pressing a few buttons. "These things lock into their targets, I presume."

Jeb fired two missiles, just as one of the dragons was passing by. Both missiles hit the dragon, beheading it instantly. The body stayed airborne for about ten seconds before crashing somewhere outside the KOB.

By then, a few Ravenspear Mk3s were able to take off, and they made quick work of the last dragon.

"Yeah! We stopped 'em!" Jeb yelled.

Lelei walked up to Jeb, and said to him,"Rory is missing. We can't find her."

"That's strange," Jeb replied, scratching his head. "When did she go missing?"

"When the dragons attacked."

"Hey, guys! I see her over there!" Bob yelled, holding a pair of binoculars.

And so, the group set out to fetch Rory.

* * *

Rory grimaced in pain. Her arm was covered in blood, and she was holding her halberd defensively. She was in one of the outer areas of the KOB, an area that was hit with some of the worst of the fire. There were lots of buildings on fire, and the fire-crews, as they were called, were not here.

That was because the ones operating here were killed.

In front of her was one of her biggest rivals, Giselle, who was also the Apostle of the goddess Hardy. Rory, sensing another Apostle's presence, had witnessed Giselle completely destroy one of the Fire-Crew's vehicles, cutting it into equal pieces before it exploded. They were now about five minutes into the fight, and Giselle seemed to have the upper hand.

"You will _not_ ," Rory said, swinging her halberd down. "...Take me to marry _her_."

"It is what Hardy has instructed me to do," Giselle replied. "If I have to bring two fire dragons here to fetch you, I would do so. And I did."

Giselle placed a finger near her lips. "I do admit that these little creatures are a lot stronger than they seem. They destroyed those two dragons in the amount of time it would take for an army to mobilize. And I will say, that is impressive."

She parried an attack from Rory, before breaking contact by swinging her scythe up. "I do wonder, though, why are you so interested in such clumsy and foolish mortal creatures?"

Before Rory could respond, however, she heard the sounds of a Kerbal rover behind her, and heard a familiar voice.

"Halt, or we will open fire!"

Looking around, she saw Jebediah Kerman manning a machine gun on a jeep, aimed at Giselle.

"We heard what you said earlier! You were the one that brought the dragons here, did you?" Jeb accused.

"I am merely doing my job. Whatever we, as Apostles do, does not concern you or your race," Giselle replied.

Jeb gave a glare that was comparable to atmospheric reentry heat.

"If you were just a normal enemy, we _would_ give you a chance to surrender. However, current circumstances prevent that. You could either leave, and we'd track you and bomb you from orbit, or you could stay here and we'll shoot you full of holes with our machine guns. Either way, you'd die."

"Ha!" Giselle laughed. "You see, we Apostles cannot die, if Rory hasn't told you yet. I'm around four-hundred years old, while Rory here is nearly a thousand. Trying to kill us would end with us revived again, no matter the way we die."

"And I suggest you leave, if you don't want to die painfully again, again, and again."

Giselle also noticed others around the area, armed with weapons too. Deciding that, despite her immortality, it wouldn't be wise to fight them all, she said,"I'll be off, then. But remember this, Rory: Hardy will find a way to get you, one day."

And so, Giselle leaped into the night sky.

All the Kerbals around lowered their firearms, and Jeb asked Rory,"What the heck was that about? An old enemy of yours?"

Rory sat down beside the jeep, panting. "I'll... explain later. Just let me take... a nap... for now."

And with that, Rory fell asleep.

Jeb looked up at the surrounding area, the burning buildings and fuel depots.

"What a mess we need to clean."

* * *

 _Longest chapter in the story, as of now._

 _Told ya this story would deviate from the original storyline._

 _I'll also be using parts from an expansion pack of BDArmory, called North Kerbin Dynamics, which features nukes, more cannons, and crazy stuff like the KV-2 turret and the Karl-Gerat howitzer._

 _And the Tsar Bo(m)ba._

 _Jeb is still salty over the fact that the bomb wasn't named after him._


	11. Khapter 11: Modular Girder Segment XL

_Modern Armed Force: Are you speaking ODIN as from Call of Duty or Mortal Engines?_

 _Ridli Scott: Luckily, those two dragons are probably the only ones that would probably be a large threat._

 _BrokenLifeCycle: You now made me wonder if the Special Region's gods have any control over space._

* * *

Giselle was kneeling in front of Hardy's shrine, speaking to her God.

"I have done my duty," Giselle said. "However, I was not able to retrieve Rory for you."

 _"That is... unfortunate, to say the least,"_ Hardy replied back, speaking through the shrine. _"It seems we may have miscalculated a bit. The Kerbal's powers are strange and difficult to understand."_

"I will go and attempt to retrieve Rory again, Hardy."

 _"No, don't attempt to retrieve Rory. Her power is too strong, and alongside the Kerbals she is nearly unstoppable. It is also extremely difficult to plan attacks on them, too."_

Giselle looked up. "What do you mean by that, Hardy? They are clumsy fools, and most of them can't even stand on their two feet without tripping."

 _"You already know this, but whoever you kill goes directly to me, instead of Emroy, right? The thirty-seven Kerbal creatures you killed went straight to my realm."_

"What are you implying?"

 _"I hate them! I absolutely hate those stupid, annoying Kerbal souls! Right after they died, they kept asking me these nonsense questions, and after that they nearly destroyed a few other souls I was hosting, using these weird rocket fuel metal objects that they got from who knows where!"_

Giselle was caught off-guard by that, as she never saw Hardy in such an angry state.

 _"You know what? I'll give these souls to Emroy, because that's how bad they are!"_

* * *

"We lost about forty Kerbals in the dragon attack, and about eighty were injured."

A group of high-ranking Kerbals, Jebediah included, were sitting around a table. "About thirty of our aircraft were damaged. Two-thirds of them are beyond repair, while the rest are in various states of damage. We also lost the second and third hangar."

That Kerbal looked down the paper report. "Thank goodness, we did not lose any refugees or other important facilities. Who knows what would've happened if the Kethane platform caught ablaze?"

"Don't forget about the second part of the report," Jeb interjected.

"Right. About an hour after the dragon attacks, we spotted an army on the horizon, presumably the Empire's. We sent out our undamaged planes and bombed three-fourths of them before they got here. The rest were promptly blown up by mines or mowed down by machine guns."

The Kerbal looked up from his piece of paper. "You know, as much as I hate the Empire, I don't think they'd do something as drastic as sending two dragons here, otherwise they would've attacked us _when_ the dragons were on with their assault."

"I can confirm it wasn't the Empire's doing," Jeb interrupted. "According to Rory Mercury, that strange person that killed several Kerbals was her rival, named Giselle. She technically works independently from the Empire, under the command of this Goddess named Hardy."

All the Kerbals took a bit of time to digest the info. "If so, then why don't we nuke Hardy? It can't be too hard, all we need to do is find out where she lives."

Jeb sighed. "Solving our problems isn't as simple as nuking stuff. We don't even _know_ where Hardy lives, and nuking a Goddess does not guarantee death to them."

"Then what else should we do, then? We can't fight them, we can't nuke them, and our weapons are useless against them!"

Jeb sighed. "You know, since we have no idea of what to do right now, let's resume this meeting in another day or two."

"Even _you_ ran out of ideas, Jeb?"

"No, I'm just thinking of a way to present my idea in a format that won't blow your minds."

"You always make our minds explode, one way or another. Not literally, mind you."

All the Kerbals in the area left the room, including Jeb. Walking out the door, he said to Bob and Val, who didn't attend because they were helping the injured.

"So?" Bob asked. "What's their plans?"

"Nothing so far. Nobody has any idea what to do."

"That's a shame," Bob replied.

Bill Kerman walked up to the group. "The prisoner is awake. Should we interrogate?"

"Wait for me, I'll be there in just a minute."

* * *

Jeb walked into the interrogation room. Made up of M-Beam 200 I-Beams, M-1x1 Structural Panels, and Modular Girder Segment XLs. Jeb himself admitted that it might've been a little overkill as an interrogation room, and quoted from he, himself: "It'd probably take someone that could harness the Kraken's power and shoot lasers out of their eyes to break out of here."

Of course, as they were in a mostly unidentified world, practically anything was possible.

Their subject was sitting in a chair, her arms strapped to the armrests. The chair, which was metal, was bolted to the ground. In front of her was a metal table, which, too, was bolted to the ground. Just in case. Jeb wasn't able to get a good look at her face, because the room was dimly lit and the light that shone through the windows were facing opposite of the person. Looking up at the ceiling lights, which were off, Jeb tried flicking the light switch.

"Won't work," Valentina said. "The dragon attack cut off the wires that run to this building. We'll have to wait for about three more hours of we really want light."

"Well," Jeb replied. "I'm not going to stand around, y'know. Wasted time. Let's just start this interrogation right now." Jeb sat down in a chair opposite of the prisoner. Jeb could see her ears twitch when he did so.

"So, anything you want to say right now?" Jeb asked. He was met with no response.

"Look, we found you near a weapon that, although inferior to ours, poses a threat to our flying vehicles. Even if you aren't related to it in any way, you still have to explain yourself for attacking me."

She remained silent.

"Should we make her speak?" Rory, who was nearby, asked. Lelei was next to Rory, holding her staff.

"Not yet," replied Jeb. "Where's Tuka?"

"She left earlier. She said that she was looking for someone of importance to her."

"She finally found a friend?"

"Tuka didn't specify."

"Alright, we'll worry about that later."

Jeb redirected his attention to the Cat-Person. "You can talk, or you can stay here until you talk. We aren't letting you go without an explanation."

After about a minute of silence, Jeb simply asked Lelei,"Do you know any spells of the sort that can read one's minds?"

"I don't -" Lelei was about to say, but she was interrupted by a strangled sob from the Cat-Person. Despite the dimness of the room, Jeb could see a few tears running down her face.

Jeb, although slightly confused, kept calm in this situation. "This is the first time I've forcibly interrogated someone not of my own species. Even though I'm not too experienced in it, I can easily tell you're not making it any easier for us," he simply said to the Cat-Person. "So, just please tell us your intention when you were attacking me, and if you have any involvement in the contraption."

She took a few moments to calm down. When she spoke, her voice was still very shaky. "I don't... want you to..." She took a deep breath. "...destroy my home and kill everyone."

Jeb remained emotionless. "Destroy your home?" He asked. "I don't know about you, but we don't destroy homes and kill people."

"L... liar," she responded. "We saw you... You killed all the Empire's soldiers that were... fighting against you, right?"

"Only reason we killed them all was because they weren't surrendering and giving up," Jeb replied. "It was technically self-defense, though slightly overkill. But we're straying from our original conversation here: Why were you shooting down our aircraft with the crossbow-like weapon?"

"Huh...? Are you talking about the Flak-Fire?"

Jeb decided a slightly different approach. "A few days ago, you saw an object flying in the air. You then shot it down. Why did you?"

"...we thought it was a dragon sent from you. We use... our Flak-Fires to kill any dragons nearby."

"Flak-Fires? So you have multiple of them? Interesting."

"And," Rory interjected. "Where, and how, did you get those clothes?"

"...these?" the Cat-Person asked, looking down at her gray uniform-like clothes.

"Yes, those. The last time I saw a style of cloth like that was about a hundred years ago, and a group of men wore them. I didn't understand them; they all spoke in a different language, but they've intrigued me. They disappeared about ten years after, with no signs of them." Rory smiled, and she didn't smile in the happy kind of way. "So, tell me, where did you get that uniform?"

"...I got this from my family. They said to me that it came from a powerful ancestor of mine, who was a soldier. These clothes were enchanted to last forever after he died."

"And what was this ancestor's name?" Rory spoke.

"...it has been lost to time."

After no one said anything for about a minute, Jeb concluded,"Well, looks like the interrogation is over." He looked towards the Cat-Person. "And you... erm, sorry, I don't know your name."

"My name is Ima."

"Alright, then. Sorry to break this to you, but we'll have to check out your town, assuming its a town, to make a treaty with the locals so they'll stop shooting us. We don't want to lose any more aircraft."

A Kerbal rushed into the room. "Jeb, there's more dragons out to attack us!"

Jeb's eye twitched. "What?!"

The Kerbal looked outside for a second. "Never mind, we killed them already, false alarm. Looks like just a few of the Empire's Dragon Riders."

"Good."

Thus, Jebediah walked out of the interrogation room, just as the lights of that building turned on.

* * *

 _"This is the Kerbal X Orbital Bomber, ready for liftoff!"_

 _"Engine is go! Fuel is go! Control surfaces are go! SAS is a go! Begin countdown!"_

 _"Ten. Nine. Eight."_

Lelei La Lalena watched the large vehicle, called a 'rocket', laying on the 'launch pad' of the KOB.

 _"Seven. Six Five."_

Earlier, she had watched the Kerbals design this piece of machinery. She asked them lots of questions, and they answered all of them.

 _A few hours ago:_

"How do these propel themselves into the sky?"

"Well, it's simple, really. It's just a tube of explosive liquid that is channeled out of the bottom, the fuel explodes and pushes it forward."

"Why doesn't the explosion go into the rocket?"

"We make a special thing to control the explosions, called engines."

"What happens if the liquid inside explodes?"

They were silent for a moment.

"Very bad things happen. It happens more than we'd like it to. We've lost lots of Kerbals in the past years to disasters like that. An art like this is hard to master, and we still haven't mastered it... yet."

 _At the Launch:_

 _"Four. Three. Two."_

Lelei could see fires gathering at the bottom of the rocket.

 _"One. Zero."_

And then, a deafening roar sounded across the KOB. This rocket was larger than all the other ones launched before, and the refugees living in the KOB were advised to stay inside for the duration of the launch or to wear earplugs.

The huge vehicle started the launch slowly. It slowly gained speed, and cleared the tower quickly. Soon, it bypassed the Aeris 3A Observation aircraft, which monitored the launch from above, and it disappeared from sight.

Lelei kept watching the small flash of light from the engines of the rocket, until that too disappeared. She knew that this mission was important to the Kerbals. Why?

It was the first time they launched a Kerbal in orbit around this planet. The rocket was loaded with a Tungsten Rod orbital bomber, and they planned to put it in a geostationary orbit. It would then be robotically controlled, but they needed one Kerbal to set up the bomber. So they asked for volunteers for this mission.

The Kerbal that volunteered and was accepted?

Valentina Kerman.

* * *

 _Well, now you know._

 _If I may ask, what do you guys love doing in Kerbal Space Program? You can respond in the reviews._

 _What I like doing: Building oversized planes and oversized spacecraft._

. _..you know how it ends up most of the time._


	12. Khapter 12: PB-NUK RITNG

_BrokenLifeCycle: Yeah, going fast is fun. That is, until you hit the atmosphere at 50,000 meters per second. Yeah, it happened to me once and the heatshield lasted about five seconds, including lag._

 _M.A.F.[Guest]:Trying a rendezvous is hard in space, and even more difficult on other planets. Well, probably not for the Mun, as it doesn't have an atmosphere, but I still wonder how those SSTO and Spaceplane builders manage to land their vehicles back at the KSC's runway after a mission._

 _notsae: Yeah, it's probably best for me to bump it up to T. It's not going any higher than that, no worries._

* * *

"You want me to do what?" Pina asked Jebediah.

"Should I explain it to you again?' Jeb asked. "We need you to help set up negotiations between the Kerbals and the Empire."

"Why? Seeing your mighty weapons, you could easily destroy the Empire in a matter of days."

"Believe it or not, us Kerbals would prefer spending money on Science equipment and getting to space. Sure, weapons are fun, but you can't really do much with it if there is no fighting to be done."

Jebediah was back at Italica with his crew, minus Valentina, as she was in orbit right now.

"I could... try," Pina spoke. "However, the Empire doesn't know that Italica is currently under your control, so if I revealed that information to them they would-"

"Don't worry. We told them already."

* * *

 _A few hours ago..._

A Kerbal-manufactured Thunderbird aircraft was flying over the Empire's capital city. The Kerbal inside watched as all the arrows and dragons they were sending into the air missed by miles. The Thunderbird was one of the fastest KSP-manufactured aircraft.

Of the two fuel drop tanks on the Thunderbird, one of the drop tanks had a parachute attached to it and contained a message inside that stated Italica's capture and the terms for peace.

"This is the Thunderbird, I'm flying right above their capital right now. Commencing drop."

The decoupler on the drop pod detached the pod from the aircraft. The parachute on it opened up before the Thunderbird turned around to return to base.

"Mission successful."

* * *

Up in space, the Kerbal X Orbital Bomber drifted. In reality, it was just a modified Space Station Core with solar panels and tungsten rods strapped to it.

Valentina watched the surface of this planet. It looked a lot like Kerbin and Laythe, except this planet had more green on it. Valentina received a transmission from the KOB.

 _"This is KOB Mission Command, how is it up there?"_

"The planet looks nice," Valentina replied. "And definitely different from Kerbin, continent-wise."

 _"Yeah, I wonder what they put on their hot-dogs, maybe they use ketchup and mustard too?"_

"Sir," Valentina replied. "I'm talking about _continents_ , not _condiments._ "

 _"Oh, whoops."_

Valentina shut off the comms before looking back at the station through the window. This station wasn't just an orbital bomber, it was also supposed to be an orbital Kethane ore scanner. The Kerbals in this world needed a way to collect fuel in case they... _accidentally_ destroyed the Gate somehow, or it shuts off for no reason.

Valentina then remembered that she forgot to tell Jeb about his jeep's fuel leaking near the batteries. Oh well.

* * *

 _Why is the gate refusing to close? Why, why, why?!_

 _It's those Kerbal creatures. They somehow stopped it from closing on the other side! I must destroy them...! Somehow._

* * *

Meanwhile, on the other side of the Gate, the Kerbals noticed that it was dimming slightly. Believing it to be "Running out of fuel", the Kerbals grabbed a bunch of equipment - batteries, PB-NUK Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generators, and lots of solar panels, and attached them to the Gate.

Surprisingly, it worked. Who knew Blutonium-238* generators could work so well?

* * *

While all this was going on, Ima, the Cat-Person the Kerbals captured, had been thinking in her cell.

Yesterday, she was allowed to go outside to watch a large vessel these Kerbal creatures constructed launching. Of course, when it was still on the ground she questioned how they would get into the sky in the first place, however the large rumbling sound accompanied by a stream of fire from the bottom of it.

These creatures, although not Human, could harness power comparable to Dragons? Comparable to Gods?

When she asked what it was for, one of the Kerbals replied that they were setting up a station high in the sky, to watch over the world and strike down opponents.

They really were elevated to the level of Gods.

If those weapons were turned against her people, she thought, there wouldn't be anyone left. However, the Kerbals said they were fighting the Empire, so maybe the Cat-People could fight alongside the Kerbals.

One could only hope.

* * *

"Tanks are ready to drop!"

"Affirmative! Decoupling!"

A large Mallard aircraft was performing a drop above a forest near the KOB. The Kerbals were developing tanks, and so far they have one design that is undergoing testing.

Four vehicles flew out of the back of the Mallard, and they all opened their parachutes.

The tank that was being tested was a Light Tank It housed a crew of two Kerbals, a driver and turret operator. The main weapons on it was a grenade launcher that launched a grenade every two seconds, and a .50 Caliber Browning machine gun. Its wheels were the smallest ones the KOB could order, so it could fit in an aircraft.

The Kerbals were also designing two other tanks: A Medium Tank and a Heavy Tank. The Medium tank would both be used as a combat vehicle and to transport Kerbals, and the Heavy Tank is a turret-less tank that can transport ores and fuel.

As for handheld weapons, the Kerbals just placed hand holds on their machine guns and light cannons.

Currently, the Kerbals back at the KSC needed a briefing on the discoveries on the other side of the GATE. However, Jebediah, the person who was supposed to send them the information, is always said to "not be available", which made Mission Control a little less than happy.

* * *

A Kerbal, sporting a mustache and wearing a lab coat and glasses, walked down the hallway towards the Mission Control of the KOB. His name was Wernher von Kerman, and he was one of the Kerbal's most famous scientists.

"Hey, Gus Kerman!" He exclaimed. "I need to talk to you about something!"

A Kerbal wearing a yellow helmet and overalls peeked out of the room. "What do you need?"

"Well, we have blueprints for something, but it's confidential information."

"What's so confidential about blueprints?"

"That's why we need to speak in private."

The two Kerbals went over to a soundproof room they could speak to each other in. "Basically," Wernher said. "We have these blueprints right here of a large vessel we need to construct in this world. Of course, my mathematical calculations definitely proved that this thing _will_ fly, in theory."

"And explain why it's confidential?"

"We can't let Jeb know about this."

"Why not?"

"Reasons."

* * *

 _*Blutonium-238 is technically canon, surprise surprise. It's in the description of the PB-NUK Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator._

 _If you want to know what the tanks kinda look like, the Light Tank is similar to a Panzer II, the Medium Tank is based off the T-34-85, and the Heavy Tank is based off the T95 Superheavy Tank._

 _Things will start to pick up next chapter, don't worry. This is just a filler chapter, if anything._


	13. Khapter 13: EAS-1 External Command Seat

_BrokenLifeCycle: Thank yourself for the beginning part of this chapter._

 _Ridli Scott: Science VS Divine Power. Imagine that._

 _MODERN ARMED FORCE: Sorry, I don't know any mods for those that work in 1.1.3._

 _New Universe Returns: Don't worry, unless I say otherwise this story shall always continue!_

 _Had you ever had that time where you knew what you wanted to write out, but you can't put it in words?_

* * *

Two Kerbals were in the space in the GATE between Kerbin and the other world. They were conducting heavy research on the GATE.

"Hey," one of them said to the other one. "Look at this."

The speedometer read: NaN.

"NaN? What does that mean?" the other Kerbal asked. The first Kerbal shrugged.

"Wait," the Kerbal said. "These two planets are theoretically galaxies apart, right?"

"Theoretically," the other one replied.

"And this portal in between them is less than a hundred meters long!"

"And?"

"So that means going through this portal means we are going faster than light!"

The realization dawned upon both Kerbals. They rushed out to the Kerbin side of the GATE to tell everyone their discovery.

"Guys, guys! We discovered how to go faster than light!"

"Yep! We just need to measure speed in letters!"

* * *

Valentina Kerman watched the nuclear engines burn their fuel. After reaching the altitude needed for a Geostationary orbit, she shut off the engines.

"This is Valentina Kerman to the KOB, the orbital procedure has been finished. I am now proceeding to setting up the station."

 _"This is the KOB to Valentina Kerman, copy that. Set up the solar panels first and power up the main communications array."_

"Affirmative," Valentina replied. She started turning a hand crank around, which extended two M-Beam 200 I-Beams that have the Gigantor XL Solar Arrays on them. After it was extended, Valentina then extended the solar panels themselves. She pulled another lever in the spacecraft, extending all the crucial cameras, communication systems, and scanners.

"This is Valentina Kerman to the KOB, I've extended all the main modules and communication systems on the craft. Do you copy?"

All she got was static.

"Hm," Valentina looked at the radio. "Is it broken?"

She glanced outside of the spacecraft, to see if the antennas extended properly.

...and, past the solar panels and surface scanners, she saw nothing. Literally nothing, just black emptiness. The stars and the planet were gone.

"Oh, great," Valentina said. The radio sputtered back to life, with some cross between a stupid and creepy sounding static voice. It would've been funny, had Valentina not experienced something like this before.

"This is bad. Very bad."

 _"YumMy spAcecrFA. kRbls Luk fo NEw unIvesRs I thEnk. HehEheh."_

And with that, the radio turned back off again, and when Valentina looked outside, the scenery was normal again, with the planet and stars in the background. Valentina turned the radio back on again.

"This is Valentina Kerman to the KOB, I have some bad news. The Kraken is now in this world."

* * *

Jebediah Kerman was in a convoy of five jeeps, headed for the inside of a forest. Earlier, the Kerbals said to Ima, the Cat-Person they captured, to lead them to her village. The Kerbals wanted to negotiate and trade, so they brought metal tools to trade with the locals.

A few hours ago, the R&D Department of the KOB decided to give the Cat-People a new species name, since saying Cat-People every time gets tiring. The Kerbals combined a few words and a vote was cast, and the new name Hulines won by a landslide. It was pronounced either Hu-lines, Hu-lins, or Hu-lin-es.

There were seven Kerbals in the convoy, including Jebediah, and even though they were in a negotiation mission they were armed with weapons in case they were attacked.

No, the KOB's VAB refused to give them 1000lb bombs and low yield nuclear weapons to arm the jeeps. They said something about it being "a waste of resources", whatever that was.

Because no other Kerbals like being in the front of the convoy when headed into unknown territory, they decided Jeb should lead along with Ima. Bob, Bill, Lelei, and Rory had to go deal with the now-growing settlement of refugees outside the KOB. Well, it wasn't technically the refugee amount that was growing, but more people moved on the outer edges of the KOB to stay safe, and the Kerbals had to keep an eye on everyone to make sure no one stirs up trouble. The Formal clan back at Italica had lend help so the Kerbals don't have a humanitarian crisis on their hands.

"We turn left here," Ima said to Jeb.

"Alright."

The group of jeeps turned at a split in the road. Jeb hit the brakes to stop the jeep from crashing into a large wooden blockade on the road, resembling a sentry post. In front of the blockade was a human-like creature. The first thing Jebediah noticed about her was the long protrusions on top of her head.

"Ima, I have a question," Jeb said to her. "Are those two things on her head ears?"

"...Yes," Ima replied. "She's a Warrior Bunny. One of the few that live in the village."

Jeb nodded, as the Warrior Bunny held up her spear defensively and yelled out,"Halt! What brings you here? Do you work for the Empire? Where are you from?"

Jebediah would've rolled down the windows, but this brand of jeeps didn't have windows. So he just called out,"Ey, one question at a time, alright? First, we're here for negotiations. Second of all, we don't work for the empire. Third, we are from the planet Kerbin."

The Warrior Bunny nodded at the first two answers, but the third one confused her. "Kerbin? Planet? Is that a new country?"

"Oh," Jeb replied. "It's that place connected by that portal thing at Alnus hill."

The Warrior Bunny's expression changed from one of confusion to one of complete horror.

"Alnus... hill?" She said, eyes wide. "I- I'm sorry for stopping you, then. Go straight on ahead."

She hurriedly raised the gate on the sentry post.

"What was that about?" Jebediah asked, driving by. "No confidence in that job whatsoever. Some gate guard you have."

"It's not her fault," Ima said. "Everyone is absolutely terrified of your species, whatever it is."

"Kerbals," Jebediah replied. "Our species is called the Kerbals."

"Yes, Kerbals. We watched your forces battle the Empire's at Alnus hill. How were your weapons so powerful? How were you able to fire those streaks of light? Magic?"

"Nope," Jebediah spoke. "Not magic. It's science. We use research we have gathered to create objects out of metals, and those objects can do various tasks. Those streaks of light you saw at the battle? Those were rockets. It's just basically a can of explosive liquid that shoots itself into the sky and falls down onto enemies and explode."

Ima nodded. The concept was a little difficult to grasp. Exploding liquid? Shooting itself into the sky? Metal objects that act as if they were enchanted?

"Well, we're here," Jeb said, stopping the jeep. Ahead of them were a few buildings that reminded Jeb of the buildings at Coda Village. However...

"This place looks like a fort!" a Kerbal from one of the jeeps behind exclaimed, jumping out of his vehicle. "Do y'all have a reason to build walls and watch towers everywhere?"

Of course, the locals were surprised at the sudden appearance of the Kerbals, and they panicked, to say the least. The ones that didn't run into their homes or into bunker-looking emplacements wielded weapons such as spears and crossbows, all aimed at the Kerbals.

"What are your reasons for being here?" One of them exclaimed. Jeb noticed most of them had appendages different from Humans. Some were _Hulines_ , others were Bunny Warriors. There were a few Humans, too, but not many.

"Look, we're just here for negotiations. Just put down your weapons and we can talk it out-"

"Jeb! One of the jeeps is going crazy!"

Jeb turned around quickly and saw one of the KSP Jeeps bouncing up and down a bit, the wheels acting weirdly.

"Oh great," Jeb said. "Everyone, evasive maneuvers! Machine gunners, target that jeep and destroy it!"

As the Kerbals ran away from the jeep, the machine gun turrets on the other jeeps fired upon that one bouncing jeep. However, it just made it worst, as it just, for a lack of a better term, _spazzed out_ , as pieces of it flew everywhere. The main body of the rover went from zero meters per second to around five hundred meters per second, as what was left flew into the sky in a spectacular glowing red fashion before exploding due to atmospheric friction.

A smoking EAS-1 External Command Seat landed next to Jeb, showering a spray of dirt into the air. Ima watched, eyes wide, at where the jeep used to be.

"What happened...?" she asked.

"This is bad," Jeb said. "All Kerbals, activate your Kraken scanners. That jeep was proof enough that he's somewhere here."

Looking at the remaining jeeps, Jeb finished off with,"And don't go near any other jeeps for the next half hour."

* * *

Meanwhile, Bill Kerman saw a bright streak of light going into the sky.

"Rory," Bill asked. "This might be a weird question, but are there any meteors in this world that go _up_?"

"Not any I've heard of," Rory replied.

There were four other Kerbals nearby, playing cards. One of the suggested,"Maybe it's a Kerbal Space Center 2 Conspiracy?"

"Nope," the second Kerbal at that table replied. "Must be the R&D's shady new science invention."

The third Kerbal said,"Or it could just be the the Kraken messing with physics again."

The fourth Kerbal, after placing down a card, replied,"Templates like that are forbidden. Your turn."

"You're not helping," Bill Kerman replied.

Rory asked,"What are they talking about?"

"...If you gotta ask, you don't wanna know."

* * *

 _I want to see a Touhou and Gate crossover. Imagine the chaos._


	14. Khapter 14: ROUND-8 Toroidal Fuel Tank

_With writer's block akin in size and magnitude to the Berlin Wall, which is preventing me from writing_ _Kilo-Alpha-Peter-Peter-Alpha: Mark 1_ _, I decided to write another chapter of KSP._

 _Sigma-del-Prisium: I'll explain it in the bolded part of the Author's note below._

 _LordGhostStriker: The Kraken is the Kerbal's devil, so to speak._

 _Muranuse: It was an intentional mistake._

 ** _The Kraken, also known as many other colorful names, is an entity in Kerbal Space Program that always exists, no matter where you are. In other words, it is the reason "Glitches", "Bugs", and "Errors" exist. It's the thing that sends your Kerbals into orbit at 10,000 m/s, turns your gigantic space vehicles into gigantic space messes during Time Warp, and makes your ships disappear when they attempt to leave the Kerbol System. It's also the reason 1.1.1 was the most broken update ever._**

 ** _If you want examples of said glitches, search up the Youtube Channel Danny2462, if you haven't heard of it. He alone is probably the reason the dev team have a mile long checklist, because he just keeps on finding bugs._**

 _Alright, now onto the story._

* * *

"I have been wanting to ask you this for awhile,"Rory spoke to Bill Kerman. "Are there any Gods or creatures equivalent to Gods in your world?"

"Gods?" Bill asked, stabbing a marshmallow through the end of a strut and placing it over a burning ROUND-8 Toroidal Fuel Tank. Bill, Bob, Lelei, Rory, and Myuute Luna Sires, the Siren they captured during the defense of Italica, were all roasting marshmallows over a fire. Myuute was now helping Rory keep the peace in the KOB's refugee area, as she did not have much to do at the KOB. Above them was the starry sky.

"The VAB's motto is ' _There is no such thing as an atheist in a spacecraft',_ but I never got an answer when I asked what that meant. Now that I think about it, there is probably only _one_ creature out there that is God-like."

"Only one? Who is it?"

Bill replied,"A nuisance. It's called the Kraken. We can't find it, detect it, hide from it, or kill it. Every year, it finds creative ways to destroy our stuff and kill our Kerbals, and every year we find new ways to reinforce from that." Bill grimaced. "Year 1.1.1 was the worst. The wheels just stopped working normally, pieces of vehicles would overlap each other somehow and explode, and we couldn't even launch a decent-sized spacecraft from our launch pad without something going wrong."

"He sounds like a powerful God."

"That's the thing: He's not a god. Just some weird creature that likes to destroy our stuff."

"Then why don't you get rid of it?"

"We have tried. Multiple times. We'd reinforce our space vessels with bug fixes and updates, but he just keeps finding new ways to mess with us."

In one swift motion, Bill pulled his marshmallow off the end of the strut and threw it into an already-made s'more before eating the whole thing in one bite.

* * *

Jeb didn't like politics.

If he could, he would just rather "Be Friends With Everyone And Blow Up Everyone That Resists" rather than politics.

Unfortunately, that is not how it works. Jeb wished Bob was here, as Bob had the best negotiation skills of the group, despite not being the most courageous.

He was driving back to the KOB in the jeep convoy. The negotiations had gone... relatively smoothly. No one died, which was the important part.

"Status on everyone else?" Jeb radioed to the other jeeps.

 _"Tired,"_ a Kerbal replied.

"Well, then, wake up! We still need another few kilometers left to go, and you're dozing off now?"

That probably woke everyone out of their sleepy trance, as the vehicles behind Jeb sped up by a few meters.

 _"Sir, how long will it take for us to get back to the KOB?"_

"Too long if you don't speed up. Now hurry, or you're all going on aircraft refueling duty tomorrow!"

That seemed to motivate the rest of the group, making them travel about five kilometers per hour faster.

"Jeb, when are you going to report back to the KSC?"

"Someday."

* * *

"This is Valentina Kerman in the Kerbal X Orbital Bomber Reentry Pod, I am hitting the atmosphere right now and reentering about a hundred kilometers from the surface."

 _"This is the KOB, copy that. Your current speed is six-hundred meters per second, approximately five meters per second velocity is being shed per second. Estimated landing spot, about twelve kilometers from the KOB. We'll send a VTOL to pick you up."_

"Rodger," Valentina spoke into the radio.

As the Mk1 Command Pod burned its way through the atmosphere, bits of its heat shield shredding off with the intense speed, Valentina wondered how much the KOB had advanced in construction while she was away. After all, alone a week in space with only the KOB's radio operator as company does get boring.

 _"This is the KOB, your altitude is currently less than seven-thousand from sea level. We advise you deploy your parachute."_

"Affirmative. Deploying parachute."

The Mk16 Parachute on the command pod was released, and it opened up.

Valentina waited the five minutes it took to reach the ground, and when she heard the familiar _thump_ of the bottom of the spacecraft hitting the ground, she opened up the hatch and exclaimed," I'm back, guys!"

Well, there was nothing around her. Well, there was, as it was nighttime, however she seemed to be standing on a tall pillar. Looking down, she saw the top of the 'pillar' had light coming out around the sides. She tapped on the glass which the light was coming from, and it opened up.

"Yes?" a Kerbal poked his head out, looking up at Valentina. "Oh, you're here already? How are you here so quick? I thought we were sending out a transport for you?"

If none of the readers had realized yet, Valentina had landed on one of the control towers of the KOB.

"You were the one that was doing the math for my mission, right? The one predicting where I would land?"

"Uh, yes. Why?"

Valentina handed him a slip of paper. "You're fired from this job."

* * *

Meanwhile, back at Kerbin, there was the KSC.

And there was the KSC 2.

The KSC 2 wasn't really much. It was just the old buildings that used to be part of the original KSC until an earthquake toppled down the KSC in year 0.21 from Jeb accidentally smacking a fault line with a space station from orbit.

The Kerbals at the KSC forgot about the KSC 2, as the KSC 2 was a storage building for spare parts. Well, the parts are mostly outdated, pre-0.21 parts, so it's mostly useless now.

However, inside the KSC 2's VAB, a group of Kerbals stood in a circle.

"You see," that Kerbal spoke. "Our comrades of the KSC 2, awhile back, have abandoned the original faith of Free Rocket Parts and have switched over to the blasphemy known as "Science" and "Funds"."

The other Kerbals nodded in agreement.

"As of today, we have been building combat spacecraft with the parts in this abandoned center and spying on their launches with the Tracking Station located here. They have found a large portal-thing that leads to another land."

All the other Kerbals nodded again.

"We will now start launching our attack spacecraft into space and destroying the first Low-Orbit space station we encounter. Launch will be in approximately five minutes. Everyone, get to work! Show the Kerbals that the old version rules!"

All the Kerbals there shouted "Hurrah!" before rushing off to their stations.

One Kerbal that was left behind just spoke,"I only joined because I liked the older parts better."

* * *

The KSC wasn't expecting an unknown spacecraft launched from the old Space Center.

They definitely didn't expect it to achieve orbit near one of their space stations.

And they _definitely_ did not expect it to open fire upon that space station.

As of now, Mission Control is in total disarray. Between the periodic explosions and flashes of lights detected from space, distress signals, and the general confusion, no one noticed one lone Kerbal slipping into the R&D. A few minutes later, they walked out and hopped into a jeep, carrying a flash drive.

"This is KSC 2 Retrieval Mission, I have gotten the intel about the GATE."

* * *

 _Yea, I need to get off my lazy bum and start writing more. I would give the excuse of "School", but it's not like it's that difficult yet, considering it's the beginning of the year and there isn't much work yet. And I got hooked onto this other game, so I've been trying to devote some time for this chapter._


	15. Khapter 15: TT18-A L Stability Enhancer

_I'm going to devote all my energy to this story now, as I dunno what to do next for my other story. Maybe I should label it as complete?_

 _Oh well._

 _Wanderer101: Don't forget about the_ _ **funds**_ _! Everyone forgets about the funds!_

 _The newer planned KSP features are interesting. If you dunno what they are, I suggest you go on Youtube and search up._

* * *

Once the KSC managed to make sense of what had happened, nearly a week had nearly passed. All the low-orbit stations around Kerbin had been shot down by the unknown force.

Fortunately, the geostationary satellites around Kerbin were not shot down, and they were still able to maintain communications with their bases on other planets.

"Sir, have they tried bombardment of the KSC?"

"Negative. They're still trying to find a way past the Reentry heat."

Another Kerbal manning a radio in the Tracking Center said,"Our bases at Duna and Jool are sending support right now."

"Minimus and Mun bases are sending up their ships to help us, too!"

"Eve is planning to send support!"

* * *

" _What?_ "

Jebediah slammed the document on the table.

"We've been attacked at _home base_?!"

Bob Kerman glanced at the report. "It says that our space stations have been shot down from orbit."

" _What difference does it make?!_ "

As Bob Kerman did not want to be on the receiving end of an angry Jebediah, he decided that now would be the best time to vacate the building. However, just as he opened the door, Jebediah grabbed him by the helmet.

"Oh no, you don't. We ain't leaving the KOB till we get things sorted out back at home!"

"But that's still technically leaving the KOB-"

"You know what I mean!"

By then, Jeb was holding Bob in the air by his helmet before dropping him back on the ground.

"What are you two arguing about?" Rory asked, opening the door a of the building walking in.

Jeb slumped down into his chair. "Nothing.. Just... Nothing of your concern."

"Nothing of my concern?" Rory asked, sitting down in a chair next to Jeb. "It doesn't sound that way."

Jebediah sighed. "It's just... Our base of operations home was attacked. We don't know who or what is attacking us, all we know is that our home is in trouble and we're not there to help them."

"We?" Rory asked. "Who are you speaking of when saying 'We'?"

"Me, Valentina, Bob, and Bill. We always take the lead during times of unrest and managed to get our buddies out of sticky situations several times. But because we're now overseeing the construction and operations of the KOB, we can't send any support back home.

Bob, Jeb, and Rory were quiet for the following minute.

"Do all of you need to be supervising the KOB?" Rory asked.

"Well, no, but disasters happen less frequently when we're around. We're skilled with equipment and good at handling disasters, unlike most of our peers."

"I see."

A suddenly Kerbal busted through the door.

"Jebediah! We have detected abnormal activities above the atmosphere of this planet!"

* * *

 _"This is_ _Minimus Blaster, ready to engage unknown hostiles!"_

 _"Munshine is here. Missiles are locked and loaded."_

 _"Spirit_ _Laythe, reporting for duty!"_

 _"EVEn With 'Em ready for combat!"_

The fleet of ships, orbiting one of Kerbin's moons, Minimus, had all gathered there and was ready to strike upon the unidentified fleet that dared attacked their mother planet. They decided to call themselves the _Operation Freedom Space_ fleet. They had all set a burn to intercept the largest force, and had all stocked up on fuel and missiles, courtesy of a few BDArmory shipments that managed to get past the orbital blockade.

As they slowly approached the large enemy fleet, numbering in the estimated forty to fifty enemy vessels, the fleet of exactly seventy-three ships, along with their thirty escort and support fighters, opened fired.

The first volley of missiles had mostly missed. BDArmory weaponry was difficult to use in space, as the properties of a vacuum differed than on the surface of Kerbin.

The hostile fleet quickly realized they were being shot at, and fired back. Two shots hit home, scratching the paint job of a capital ship and tearing the left wing off of a combat SSTO. _Operation Freedom Space_ had all burnt some more fuel getting closer to the enemies, and they fired another volley of missiles. This time, they did lots of damage, with confirmed damage on an enemy capital ship and two light frigates obliterated.

The commander of _Operation Freedom Space_ knew that staying in fleet formation would just make the ships of the fleet easy targets. So he spoke into the radio,"All fleet ships, break formation."

If one were to be on the ground at the time, they would've seen small, bright flashes from the sky. The KSC knew that the attack was happening, so they watched from their little ground station, at the sky, knowing that the result of the battle would determine the fate of the Kerbal Space Program.

* * *

"Bob, Lelei, you ready?"

"Yes."

"Yep."

Since only a selected few know about the events unfolding back at the KSC, they intend to keep it a secret. Because Jeb and Val can't leave base without anyone not noticing their absences, and Bill being... the stupid one, they decided to send Bob Kerman along to check up on the KSC and assist if he has to.

And because he doesn't have the same BadS ranking as Jeb or Val, Lelei volunteered to come along to help him in a combat situation.

Of course, this meant slipping past the GATE. However, ever since the space stations around Kerbin were shot down, the base around the GATE on Kerbin's side was evacuated and guards were placed around it to prevent anyone from being lost in case the enemies decide on orbital strikes.

Probably the most difficult decision they had made was the atmosphere on Kerbin. Although Kerbals could breathe normally on the non-Kerbin side of the GATE, they didn't know if the same applied to the other side. They took air samples of the two atmospheres and compared them, with results coming up with very similar, but they aren't taking any chances, so they gave her a temporary gas mask just in case.

"We're ready," Bob spoke.

"Alright!" Jeb said. "We'll see you in a little bit!"

The jeep pulled forwards into the GATE.

* * *

"Sir, our fleet is under attack. It appears that we're losing."

"It won't matter. Once this is powered up and we escape through the other side, we will be able to wreck havoc. No orbital defenses whatsoever, according to the intel."

"The _Hatchet_ radioed in. They've lost over half of their fleet, with only one-fourth enemy casualties."

"Any flagships lost?"

"Yes, we have a few losses. The _Pickaxe_ , _Bayonet,_ and _Hammer_ were confirmed to be damaged in the fighting, and they're retreating. We have lost the _Trench Spike, Needle, Sledge Hammer,_ and _Halberd._ "

"Tell the rest of the fleet to retreat We're almost done with it, anyways."

"Affirmative."

"And tell them to stop spamming TT18-A Launch Stability Enhancers on the launchpad of our space center. Seriously, it's making a mess."

* * *

 _The Kerbals are stepping up their game._


	16. Khapter 16: O-10 MonoPropellant Engine

_The decreasing amount of new reviews per chapter is making me sad. Am I not doing something right?_

* * *

" _The Munshine is hit and is leaking fuel!"_

 _"Spirit Laythe has taken heavy damage, evacuating ship and firing deorbital burn."_

 _"EVEn with 'Em is picking up survivors from ally wrecks."_

As the fleet of ships, the unidentified group and _Operation Freedom Space_ clashed, the estimated casualties started to pile up. Despite the fact that _Freedom Space_ had the advantage in numbers, that also meant more of their ships were being hit by space debris from the raging battle.

Already, twelve out of the seventy-three _Freedom Space_ ships were knocked out or destroyed. Over half of the enemy fleet had been destroyed so far.

And when the Kerbals of the liberation force prepared for more battle ahead of them, the unidentified fleet just... left.

Just like that. They turned around and fired themselves into a low-orbital burn.

This battle for Kerbin had been won.

* * *

A jeep ran over another pot hole on the dusty trail. Upon the surface of Kerbin, Bob Kerman had gotten himself a jeep for himself and Lelei. Bob had seen pictures of the enemy spacecraft that attacked the low orbit space stations, and he had a suspicion about what and where they were being launched from.

The jeep quickly drove down a hill as the two saw in the distance their destination.

The rectangular white and red building along with the old towered launch-pad were seen. And it was more active than Bob had ever seen in his life.

Kerbals were scurrying around, in rovers with landing gear wheels and cranes made out of old struts and wing parts. They were preparing for another launch of a ship, it seemed.

They must've noticed the jeep Bob was in, for a loud explosion sound followed by a streak of light flew into the sky. Bob's quick instincts told him to reverse, before a large fuel tank slammed into where the jeep was a second ago. He quickly drove the jeep behind a large hill to hide it from the hostile forces.

"Our plan," he spoke. "Is to charge straight there, alright?"

"Won't that get us both killed?" Lelei asked.

"Listen here - you'll use some of your magic to blow up their aircraft and distract them. While they're trying to put out the fires, we'll attempt to take the spacecraft they have on the launchpad and get into space. Sound like a plan?"

"I don't know if tha-"

"Good, we'll start right now!"

The jeep lurched forwards as Bob Kerman floored it. The KSC 2's defenses were flawed in a way that there was nothing to stop something from charging straight at the base, since they only had artillery pieces.

Lelei rolled down the window on the jeep and fired a shot of explosive magic right in the middle of a group of aircraft. Some of them exploded, winglets and burning fuel flying everywhere. She fired another bolt at a rather large truck, and the truck exploded and threw struts everywhere like lots of machine-gun fire.

As the KSC 2 delved into chaos, Bob Kerman quickly opened the door to the jeep and jumped out. Lelei soon followed. They both reached the large tower next to the launch pad, and proceeded to climb it.

A few Kerbals on the ground attempted to fire seperatron guns at them.

"Don't worry about them," Bob Kerman spoke. "I recognize the seperatron model. It won't be strong enough to hurt us."

They managed to reach the top of the launch tower, and to their luck, found that the ship that was being launched was not yet manned. They both climbed in, and Bob realized that the KSC 2 designers put the launch button _inside_ the cockpit of the ship.

The ship quickly lifted off, as the members of the KSC 2 watched it fly away, dumbstruck as how to that all happened so quickly.

* * *

Meanwhile, back at the Special Region, the Kerbals were having trouble.

Lots of it.

First of all, the Empire attempted an ambush on an expeditionary force meant to scout out for villages. No one was harmed, except the Empire's ambush.

The more worrying matter was that Italica was nearly hit by extraterrestrial objects. Scout teams sent to the impact sites about three kilometers from Italica found old-fashioned rocket parts and fuel tanks, or what was left of them after hitting the ground too hard. Because of this recent event, the KOB turned their telescopes and tracking stations to the sky, finding a worrysome unknown large group of dots in orbit.

With the unknown targets in the sky posing a serious threat, many spaceworthy combat vehicles were built and were readied to go into orbit. However, the main problem was the lack of skilled pilots. They _could_ train residents from the Special Region to control ships, but they're likely to lose vehicles in combat. Probes weren't accurate when controlling and required constant communication with the KOB.

They were quite in a pickle. Nothing they could do against the orbiting menaces above them.

As the manager of the Tracking Station in the KOB thought,' _This day can't get any worst,'_ a Kerbal ran from one of the computers.

"We have detected a large group of orbital objects hitting the ground near the Empire's capital! They appear to have survived the impact and are deploying land vehicles that are approaching the Empire's city!"

Okay. Apply wall directly to forehead. Apply wall directly to forehead. Apply wall directly-

"Sir, what are you-"

"Just tell the staff I'm sick or something. I don't want to deal with this today."

* * *

Despite the fact that the KOB lacked in adequate space pilots, they certainly did not lack in drivers for their armored vehicles.

A large formation of Light Tanks, Medium Tanks, Heavy Tanks, and Armored Trucks moved into the large transport VTOLs and Helicopters. The Kerbals figured that stopping the unidentified invading force that is going to attack the Empire would probably improve relations between them.

The only problem with the loading? The Heavy tanks were too large to transport by VTOL, the Kerbals realized too late. They planned to get large transport planes to airdrop it over the battlefield instead of leaving them at home, because "A good battle is won with soldiers and big explosions. The more big explosions, the better."

After all the vehicles were strapped down, the Kerbals ready for combat, and the supplies loaded on, the fleet took off.

As the Kerbals all watched over the KOB out of the helicopter and VTOL windows, an announcement from Jebediah Kerman was heard from their mics.

 _"Remember, Kerbals, this mission and all our missions are for one goal. And that goal is to science! Science, research, and development! Remember, we fight for these causes, and you are the ones that are keeping it alive! I wish you all luck in combat."_

* * *

The Empire was fighting a loosing battle. Even with all their soldiers called up and everyone fighting, they could not get past this group of enemies.

They seemed like the enemies from the other side of the Gate, however they used different looking weapons.

As several catapults of the Empire's hurled rocks over the wall, an explosion rang out.

"What was that?!"

* * *

The Kerbals jumped out of the VTOLs and Helicopters as they landed, grabbing their guns. A Light Tank rolled out of a helicopter, and up far in the sky they could see the Heavy Tanks being parachuted down from the transport aircraft.

"We have contact!" a Kerbal yelled, firing his seperatron gun several times. A tank of the enemy force rolled up, wheels comprised of landing gear with winglets as armor. It fired once, turning a nearby helicopter into a pile of scrap metal. The Light Tank returned fire, melting through the weak winglet armor in three shots.

The true horror for the enemy Kerbals began when, from their perspective, a young human in black-and-red clothing had emerged out of a VTOL.

"I can kill all those in the suits that aren't the same as yours, right?" Rory asked Jebediah Kerman.

"Yep. Go ahead and destroy them. We have your back."

A few Kerbals of the invasion force fired at the strange human as she approached. She took most of the shots, however she seemed unaffected by them.

And she slashed one of their armored trucks in half.

Their ranks fell into chaos as the indestructible enemy continuously destroyed them with ease while the KOB's Kerbals rained down gunfire from gunships and tanks.

And Rory? She was happy. Laughing as if it was child's play. Which, it was to her. The enemy Kerbals she slashed turned to bits of gray smoke, which was strange... But it's not the time to question in the middle of this battle.

* * *

And, to make things worst, the KOB detected landings of ships near the forest where the hidden village was located. They literally had no tank units or heavy gunship units to stop them, all they had was a small group of elite combat Kerbals trained to guard stuff.

So they sent those guys in, led by Valentina Kerman.

As the group parachuted into the forest, they all hunkered down in their inflatable pillboxes and foxholes. And they waited.

Gunfire sounded, and a bunch of bullets flew towards them. "Enemies up ahead! Open fire!" A wall of bullets from the KOB Kerbals silenced the gunfire - for a second. A tank burst through, nearly running over a pillbox. Valentina, who was prepared for this, lifted up her disposable O-10 "Puff" MonoPropellant Fuel Engine rocket launcher and fired. It hit the tank, blowing it up. The turret landed nearby in the bushes.

Two more enemy tanks drove out of the bushes. Unfortunately, Val only had one rocket launcher, so she looked hopelessly as the tanks blew up a few foxholes and pillboxes.

"Everyone, retreat! We don't have anything else to fend off these tanks!"

"You were saying?"

Valentina looked behind her, and saw someone she recognized.

Ima was atop a large metal vehicle, not too unlike the Kerbal medium tanks. However, it had little bits of plated armor on the sides, and the gun looked different.

"We'll help you! _Pan-Sir Fore_ , open fire!"

The tank-like vehicle fired, destroying one of the enemy tanks. However, two more had appeared out of the bushes, making it three against one. One of the tanks fired, barely missing the _Pan-Sir Fore_.

Ima yelled into the forest,"C'mon, _Kay-Vii Too_! Hurry up!"

Another vehicle crashed through the forest, and a boxy-looking tank with a tall turret crushed through the brush. It fired, making a huge explosion that knocked an enemy tank onto its side.

"What the heck are these?" Valentina asked.

Ima replied,"We've been saving these underneath the village in a place we dug out. My ancestors wielded these weapons to smite their enemies, and they have been enchanted to last forever."

A streak flew by, and nearly hit the _Kay-Vii Too_.

"We have one last of these beasts, but it got stuck in some mud. So we'll have to do with these for now!"

Valentina watched as the two tanks boosted the morale of the KOB Kerbals. "We will fight on! Everyone, advance! Ima, destroy any more enemy tanks that appear, we'll take care of the individual soldiers!"

The group advanced towards the position where the enemy Kerbals landed. They destroyed three enemy tanks that were in the way and took out several Kerbals.

The last tank that joined the group, the _Em-AteTine Gun Modir Karij,_ also known as the _HewlCat_ , was a tank that looked like a generic tank. Except for the fact that it was extremely fast.

Soon, the group of Kerbals and three tanks reached the landing position of the enemy Kerbals. Gunfire peppered down on them, and a few KOB Kerbals were lost. However, they returned fire, and the tank drivers realized the little sticks that poked out the front of their tanks were machine guns, too. However, when they mowed down past the line of weak enemy tanks, one strange looking one appeared.

It looked like two giant boxes stacked on each other. It was made out of some weird looking material, and it had a gigantic main cannon on the front.

A Kerbal popped out of the command hatch. "Behold, the KSC 2 Super Tank, made out of the same stuff the old Space Centers were!"

Valentina looked at that Kerbal. "Weren't the old KSC pieces disposed when they were torn down for new ones?"

"Yes, that is the case! We just salvaged the pieces! Now, prepare to-"

The Kerbal that was out of the hatch popped into a bit of smoke as an annoyed Ima fired a pistol at his forehead.

Soon, the hatch on the self-proclaimed "Super Tank" closed, and it fired.

The _Pan-Sir Fore_ was pushed back from the force of the explosion, and all the three tanks fired.

The shots bounced off, leaving scrape marks, but not doing any damage.

And, from within the tank, a radio spoke out _"We have them in our grasps. Take 'em out."_

* * *

 _So, for a few definitions:_

 _Pan-Sir Fore = Panzer IV_

 _Kay-Vii Too = KV-2_

 _Em-AteTine Gun Modir Karij = M18 Gun Motor Carriage_

 _HewlCat = Hellcat_


	17. Khapter 17: HG-5 High Gain Antenna

_BrokenLifeCycle: The author's job is to throw in plot twists that confuse the readers temporarily. :P_

 _Ridli Scott: If you think about it harder, you can realize something. Don't overthink it, though._

 _Guest: Nice to know that people enjoy my story!_

* * *

As Lelei and Bob Kerman controlled the ship in orbit, doing occasional orbital burns to get to the group of unidentified objects, they soon got close enough to witness a full-scale battle in front of them.

Many ships from the KSC 2 were slugging it out against ships from the original Space Program. There were many burnt out and empty ship hulls everywhere. The ship Bob was in narrowly missed a field of fuel tanks as his ship drifted forwards.

"What do we do?" Lelei asked.

"Can you cast magic through solid objects?"

Lelei shook her head _no._

Bob grimaced. "Okay, we have to do it the difficult way, then."

Bob fired the two missiles on the ship they hijacked at some KSC 2 ships. The KSC 2 ships seemed to be momentarily stunned, as it seemed like one of theirs was firing at them. However, they soon got their bearings together and opened fire upon this so-called "defector".

"I'll be flying straight through!" Bob yelled. "They're obviously guarding something, let's see what it is!"

The ship's thrusters fired and flung the ship through the KSC 2 ships. Bob didn't even bother to turn off the engines, he just floored it. It took five minutes to locate an especially large object on the radar, and another five to fly to it. In that time, Lelei and Bob did not exchange any words.

Bob looked upon the object, and uttered one sentence.

"It looks like the GATE!"

Unlike the GATE on Kerbin, this one was completely circular and was made of metal. However, inside it disappeared into endless, murky blackness, just like the GATE.

"I bet an entire tech trees' worth of science that thing leads to your world," Bob growled to himself.

Lelei gazed upon the GATE. "How... are you creatures able to create something... only Gods could?"

"I don't even know how to explain this. They probably stole some research we had on the GATE and made their own up here in space."

And then, a transmission went through. _"All KSC 2 vessels, please proceed through the space GATE. One ship will stay behind to destroy the GATE before it falls into the Space Program's hands. We must take over this world and prepare to destroy the KSC again."_

Bob didn't even bother to listen to the rest of the transmission, and shut off the radio. He then made up his mind.

"Hold on, Lelei!"

The hijacked ship flew forwards and into the space GATE.

* * *

Many shots bounced off the enemy super-heavy tank. The Pan-Sir Fore, Kay-Vii Too, and the HewlCat could't damage the enemy tank. All the shots would bounce off and scrape the enemy vehicle, but not pierce the armor.

"We're falling back!" Valentina yelled. "We can't do much against them!"

The three tanks, the crews seeing that it was practically hopeless, started reversing their tanks.

The enemy tank fired, missing yet again.

"They don't seem to be the best at aiming..."

And then, Ima yelled out,"Fire the Flak-Canndsons!"

Several loud explosions were heard in the distance, and then five exploding shots landed right on top of the enemy tank. It was pushed back momentary and the top was scraped by shrapnel.

However, despite it being stunned for a second, it rotated its turret forwards again and fired again.

Before tons of missiles and shells landed on it.

Looking up to a loud jet engine whine, Valentina was amazed upon seeing what appeared to be a huge floating fortress.

Several VTOL gunships and Ravenspear aircraft were flying around, and they bombarded the enemy tank.

And a single missile came from that ship, and pierced the armor of the heavy tank, burning out the inside completely and cooking the crew.

* * *

Near the capital of the Empire, the Kerbals were cleaning up the mess of the battle. There were destroyed vehicles and craters everywhere, not to mention the large amounts of damage to the Empire's defenses.

Because of these recent events and the liberation of Kerbin airspace from the KSC 2, the KSC decided to investigate the KSC 2, and they were met with gunfire and missiles.

Not wanting to deploy land or aerial units against the KSC 2, old space stations, space junk, and destroyed ships from orbit were constantly deorbited onto the KSC 2 until there was nothing left of the second space center.

The discovery of the space GATE was also groundbreaking. The space GATE was artificial, built by the KSC 2, and they planned to destroy it once they all get across that GATE. However, that GATE is now under the KSC's control, and they plan to send ships to the other side.

Now, while Kerbin aerospace was free, the Special Region's wasn't. There were many enemy ships in orbit, and while their ammunition can't go through the atmosphere without burning up, they could still send down drop-ships or deorbit whole ships as last resort.

Because of this, the KOB had built an improved tracking station and had several kerbals manning it in shifts. If something was detected in orbit, and it was falling towards the KOB, they'll evacuate the area as quickly as possible.

Times were not looking good.

Hey, at least the new antennas sent to the KOB worked.

* * *

"We lost the KSC 2, the Space GATE, much of our fleet, our landing units, and many crew members. What now?"

"We keep fighting. We do as much damage as we can. If we can't have it, no one else will."

"That's a... somewhat arrogant way to end our legacy."

"Did I ever say anything about ending our legacy?!"

"...no, sir."

"Exactly."

Another voice piped in.

"Captain! There is something coming out of the Space Gate on our end!"

"Is the KSC already starting to send ships?!"

"No, it looks like one of ours."

"Good, another one had survived. Radio them in and tell them to dock at one of our carriers."

"Sir... they're not responding to our messages."

"Well, tell them- "

An explosion rocked the ship.

"What happened?!"

"We were hit by two shots from that one ship that came from the Gate! Assume they're hostile, open fire at them!"

Meanwhile, Bob and Lelei were in their ship, dodging a bunch of shots as explosions rocked around their ship.

"I didn't know they were so trigger happy!" Bob exclaimed.

"It might have something to do with our missiles hitting one of their ships," Lelei replied.

"Ya' think?!"

Bob soon managed to fly out of the range of the hostile guns. He breathed a sigh of relief, saying, "We got away from 'em. I know a nearby station we can dock at. It only has one reentry pod on it, so I'll send you down back to the KOB."

Lelei gave Bob a hard stare. "You're going to make it back alive, right?"

"If the KOB decides to send up a pod to me, yes. Which, they'll probably do, I hope."

* * *

 _So yea, how is your day?_


	18. Khapter 18: M700 Survey Scanner

_BrokenLifeCycle: And soon, the Heavens will be lit up with flashes of light from a spacefaring battle._

* * *

The KSP and KOB both planned an attack upon the Kerbal invaders in space.

Now, the Kerbals had to get creative when scanning for the orbital invaders. The enemies used ships that had parts no longer registered in the KSC's databases, which makes them impossible to detect without a software update.

However, the enemy ships _should_ have fuel on them, right?

It was Lelei's ingenious thinking, after she was recovered from a deorbital pod from the orbital bombardment station. They also sent an SSTO up there to retrieve Bob.

Lelei had read up a lot about Kerbal technology, and after a bit of thinking, she realized _'If we can't see the enemy's vehicles in space, why not check where their fuel is?'_

The M700 Survey Scanner is a low orbital resource scanner made by the Experimental Engineering Group. It has not failed the Kerbals once when they were searching for Kethane on other planets.

So, Lelei came up with the logical conclusion to _point the M700 Survey Scanners into the sky_ , and locate exactly where the fuel of the enemy ships are. Because where there is fuel, there are ships.

The enemy ships were found at half-geostationary orbit from the planet. The Space GATE was at an altitude of 100,000 meters higher than that. That meant if the KOB and the KSC both launched an attack at the same time, they could pin down and corner the enemy ships and destroy them completely.

And when were they starting this? As soon as Jeb's tantrum is over.

* * *

 _" . . . and you're telling me that you've been building a flying aircraft carrier -"_

"Look, Jeb, it was an independent project from the KSC, and _you_ of all people certainly didn't need to stress yourself over -"

 _" -look, I know everything, and if you think you can build a bad-S looking contraption without me, and **especially** without me, you are **out of luck** , because I know . . ."_

Well, it _technically_ was the KOB's fault for not letting Jeb know of the flying missile carrier they had built. For the best, probably, because Jeb would most likely turn it into a gigantic drink-dispensing machine or something of the like.

* * *

Tuka had been wandering around the KOB for several days now. She kept thinking to herself, and made little to no contact with any of the KOB's citizens or Kerbals. She had isolated herself with everyone she had befriended. She walked through the streets of the KOB, thinking to herself, thinking one thought.

 _Where is my father?_

Ever since she was rescued from the burning forest, ever since her tribe had been destroyed by the fire dragon, her mind was confused. Was her father alive? Where is he? Shouldn't he be here with her? Her father had always been with her, so why not now, of all times?

At the same time, a street or two away, a tall, blond figure trudged through the streets. His pointed ears stuck out from under his hair, making it obvious that he was an elf. His right eye and parts of his body were bandaged.

Although this was his first time at this area, which he found out was called the _KOB_ by the locals, it was pretty much just an abnormal looking village, with the tiny strange green creature that wander around.

He planned in his mind, after he buys himself some food and supplies, he will head out to search.

 _For my daughter._

While fate was a fickle component of everyone's lives, that does not necessarily mean it is bad. Fate is always noticed when something bad happens all of a sudden. It is seldom noticed whenever a miracle happens.

Such as war and peace, the importance everyone places on the word _peace_ , yet being completely unnoticed or unreported while it is happening.

And when Hodor Marceau and Tuka Marceau nearly walked into each other on a corner, both of them recoiled, looking into the other's face. It only took a second for them to recognize each other's faces, and when they did so, Tuka fell into the arms of Hodor, crying out," _Father!"_

Hodor embraced his daughter, knowing that is search has been completed.

* * *

" _This is the Munshine . . . Ugh, these repairs are taking forever!"_

 _"Technically your fault for not firing your engines and letting that volley hit you."_

 _"I didn't want to waste fuel. Anyways,_ _I'm bored. You guys know what's beyond this GATE thing?"_

 _"Nope. The KSC is classifying all the information that goes from the KOB to them."_

 _"Classify, my face! Why'd they get all the cool and exciting stuff?"_

 _"Dunno. An' shut your face and get your repairs done, I want to get past this Space GATE and pwn the KSC 2 guys. They killed two of my crew members, and I want to get them back for it."_

* * *

 _"Engines are a-go! Fuel tanks are a go! SAS engaged, we have liftoff!"_

This was the seventh launch this day. The large vehicle lifted off, carrying with it a combat orbiter. The KOB was planning a massive attack upon the KSC 2's fleets, with over five SSTOs, two space-planes, and up to seven attack orbiters, all armed with weapons supplied by BDArmory. Jebediah and Valentina had to train many pilots in the art of not blowing up their spacecraft, so they would be launched into space last.

The Kerbals went as far as to building Inter-Planetary Ballistic Missile (IPBM) sites in locations around the KOB, to fire at space targets right before the battle starts. They even were able to launch a submarine into the ocean with a nuclear IPBM, in case something happens to the KOB in the space battle. They planned to evacuate most, if not all, the KOB's civilians and personnel into bunkers built out of buried Mk3 Liquid Fuel Fuselage parts, with one built as a makeshift mission control center.

They didn't really plan for anything worst than space debri landing all over the continent, since this battle will be a victory set in stone, but they wanted to be careful.

* * *

 _"How'd you get the repairs done so quickly?!"_

 _"It's called time-warp."_

 _"What?"_

 _"Nevermind. Let's just start the attack."_

The fleet of KSC ships all went through the Space GATE, their engines set at full throttle and their weapons primed for the battle.

When they popped out the other side, they all scanned their surroundings first and foremost. They quickly detected the fleet of enemy ships in an orbit lower than them. However, what they did not realize was the large amount of projectiles that happened to head their way.

The fleet of ships was impacted by a self-sabotaging group of space-debris.

* * *

"Darn it! We're behind schedule!" Jebediah exclaimed, putting on his space helmet. "The KSC's already initiated the attack! Hurry, Val, we're getting on this spacecraft!"

The last spacecraft that was to be launched from the KOB was on the launchpad. All of the IPBMs were firing off at thirty-second intervals, all creating streaks in the sky headed for space.

Jebediah and Val went up an elevator to the capsule of the spacecraft. In less than thirty seconds, they were in the vessel and gave Mission Control the affirmative to start the countdown.

 _"Ten. Nine. Eight."_

The engines started to ignite.

 _"Seven. Six. Five."_

The various tubes and pipes attached to the space vessel fell off and retracted.

 _"Four. Three. Two."_

And then, the SRBs were ignited.

 _"One. Zero."_

And the large ship started to lurch forwards, several thousand tons of fuel and steel all held together by bolts, space-tape, and the occasional bit of gorilla glue.

Wait, the engineers were serious about the gorilla glue part?

* * *

The first wave of IPBMs hit the enemy ships. After the wave of missiles hit, a bunch of the KOB's ships started opening fire upon the KSC 2's vessels. Soon, the KSC's ships arrived into the firefight, damaged by a space debris sabotage by the KSC 2 but still operational. The ensuing firefight would be remembered by the residents of Falmart for the rest of their lives.

For anyone on the surface, it was nighttime when the battle took place. Not too convenient for those in space, but because of the night, many bright flashes could be seen in the night sky from the planet's surface. This went on for about three hours, with irregular and constant blinks of lights in the sky.

And then, the brightest flash of all. A huge circle of bright green light exploded in the sky. It kept spreading out, further and further, before dispersing away.

And thus, the Battle for Falmart had ended.

* * *

 _Suspense._


	19. Khapter 19: Mk-55 Thud Engine

_navyfield90: I nearly laughed myself off my chair when I got what it meant._

* * *

The KOB's mission control was in disarray.

"We've lost contact with all space-vessels!"

"Attempting to regain contact. No use! The radio systems are jammed for some reason!"

"The emergency generators are at their limit! We have to limit electricity use."

Ever since that last bright flash, the electronics in the KOB went haywire. There was a power outage, prompting them to turn on their emergency generators. The radio systems were a complete mess, with constant weird frequencies fired at them.

"Do we have confirmation on the weapon detonated in space?"

"No, sir, but the KSC thinks it was a nuclear weapon."

* * *

Space debris was floating around in orbit. Spent ammunition casings and missile farings were everywhere.

Meanwhile, a ship that looked like it was cleaved in half floated near said debris.

"Val, control the ship's RCS, I'll salvage what I can," Jebediah replied. "And try to maintain that radio signal to the other ships. We can still find them, I'm sure they're alive."

Jeb, in his EVA suit, floated around the nearby debris, pulling in what he can and welding the useful parts to the ship. He was in the middle of welding on a salvaged Mk-55 "Thud" Liquid Fuel Engine when, in his comms, he heard Valentina say,"I have contact with one of our ships!"

The sounds of heavy static could be heard.

 _"This is . . . KOB VTO . . . can't get communi . . . anyone read?"_

Valentina replied,"We read you loud and clear! I'll relay our coordinates to you!"

Jeb continued welding the pieces to the ship. "We'll only need enough engines and fuel to deorbit, once we do that the heat shield and parachutes will do the rest."

"Yes, but how will we contact the KSC? The explosion disabled a bunch of the electronics and are jamming the few electronics that still work."

"We're gonna be outta this radiation-filled debris belt once we're back on the planet, so we'll probably be able to contact them."

* * *

Rory and Lelei waited anxiously in the Mission Control Center of the KOB as the Kerbals scurried about, diagnosing computer errors and failures and attempting to locate the location of the KOB and KSC's ships.

The two were able to pick up snippets of comments from nearby Kerbals.

"Electronic failures . . . "

" . . . Radar is fried."

"Radio signals getting scrambled . . ."

As Bob Kerman was passing by, Rory asked,"What's up with all the commotion?"

"You know those bright flashes of light in the sky yesterday?" Bob Kerman asked. Rory nodded. "That was the battle. We lost contact with our squad just as the last and brightest flash was seen."

Bill Kerman ran up. "New news, Bob, I heard they say it was a nuclear bomb that was detonated over the planet."

Bob looked in disbelief at Bill. "A nuclear bomb? But how'd the KSC 2 get their hands on one?"

Bill shrugged. "No idea. But we've been getting trickles of gamma from space, which is approximately 5.2(10^4) more gamma radiation than they've received on average. That means the KSC 2 has been using nuclear weapons in space, and I'm pretty sure that bright final flash was the nuclear bomb."

A Kerbal that was manning the radar yelled out,"I've detected several signals! They look like SSTOs, but they're not ours!"

"Gosh, darn it!" Bob yelled. "I thought the KSC 2 blew up _all_ of their own forces in that nuke!"

"Apparently not! I'm sending a message to the hangar to scramble a few of our fighters!"

And then, another Kerbal ran down the flight of stairs that went up to the watchtower on Mission Command. As all reasonable people know, running down the stairs is not recommended, so he tripped and fell the last ten steps down.

Rory and Lelei winced as he smacked face-first on the floor. While still on the floor, he raised a hand up and spoke, muffled a bit by the floor,"There's unidentified aircraft coming."

Bill stomped a foot onto the ground. "We won't have time to scramble any aircraft! We'll need to load up the anti-aircraft and take 'em down!"

As Bill looked around, he then asked,"Wait, where'd Lelei and Rory go?"

* * *

Lelei charged up several magic blasts, before letting them off at the nearby low-flying enemy SSTO. It clipped off the wing of that vehicle, and it tumbled down and crashed.

Two other SSTOs fired off missiles, hitting several anti-aircraft and hangar positions. However, they had to go down low to hit the targets, low enough for Rory to jump up upon one of the SSTOs. She looked into the cockpit of the vehicle, smiled, and sliced the aircraft down the middle. She jumped off the now-burning ship and landed on her feet as the SSTO crashed behind her.

She looked up for the other SSTO, but the ground beneath her exploded as the second SSTO dropped a bomb right on her.

Many residents of the KOB didn't bother to stay out and watch the fight. Most of them rushed inside their homes. However, Hodor Marceau, Tuka's father, stared at the second SSTO. Although he did not know what it was, it looked like a fast flying dragon to him, he knew it was an enemy. He nocked an arrow into his bow, aimed, and let it loose.

The arrow flew forwards, and due to Hodor's impressive accuracy, it hit the cockpit of the SSTO and thus the enemy Kerbal inside. The aircraft spiraled out of control before hitting the ground.

And it just so happened that at that time Ima was visiting the KOB in her Pan-Sir Fore. They had the Kay-Vii Too with them. Noticing the smoke rising from the KOB, Ima was quick to spot a few objects flying above the KOB and dropping projectiles on it.

"Kay-Vii! We might be dealing with an enemy situation here, so be ready!" Ima yelled out to the other nearby tank.

One of the flying objects broke off from the main formation over the KOB, and headed for the Pan-Sir Fore and Kay-Vii Too.

"That one is headed for us!" Ima exclaimed. "Pan-Sir, aim the main cannon for that! I'll fire the machine-gun!"

The Pan-Sir fired a shot at the flying object, but it missed. Despite the fact that Ima was firing the machine gun at the SSTO, most of the shots didn't land, and the ones that did land didn't do much damage.

The SSTO fired off two missiles, flipping over the Pan-Sir Fore. Ima fell out of the commander's hatch of the tank, and watched as the aircraft flew above her. She hit the ground angrily, before asking,"Is everyone okay?"

The SSTO, seeing the Kay-Vii Too, noted that it was not hit by the missiles. It turned around for another strafing run. However, it didn't even get to fire its missiles, as a Ravenspear Mk4 fired a few barrages of air-to-air missiles, decimating the SSTO.

The Kerbals managed to get a few heavy VTOLs in the air. The machine-gun turrets on the VTOLs were running wildly as they fired at any and all enemy aircraft that was in the air.

* * *

Jebediah found two spaceplane fighters that were intact in the partially destroyed hangar of a fighter carrier. Both could carry Kerbals directly to the KOB while the rest of the deorbiting pods could be picked up by VTOLs and helicopters.

Both spaceplanes entered the atmosphere and were able to quickly get to the KOB. However, there was smoke rising from the KOB.

"This is Jebediah Kerman to the Kerbal Operating Base, do you respond?"

" _Ey, Jeb, you finally made it back! We're having a little problem, SSTOs are blowing us up, any help?"_

"Dunno about that, we're ferrying down survivors!"

And then, the second spaceplane behind Jeb exploded as several enemy missiles hit it. Jeb watched calmly as the ally spaceplane went down in flames.

Jeb shut off the radio communications, and put on the sunglasses he had in his pocket this whole time.

"Time to kill some."

* * *

Lelei and Rory watched as the spaceplane with Jeb in it single-handedly destroyed the last two SSTOs. Jeb knew the ammo on the spaceplane was meant for space engagements, not dogfights. However, Jeb still improvised. He swooped down upon an SSTO and fired the missiles so they went straight down and hit the SSTO directly, blasting it to pieces. That was the last of the ammunition on the spaceplane.

The second SSTO attempted to fly around the spaceplane. However, Jeb flew his plane on a collision course for that SSTO, and managed to angle it so well that the wing of the spaceplane was able to shear off the SSTO's wing without the spaceplane itself taking any damage. The SSTO that lost its wing hit the ground and was engulfed in an explosion.

And when Jeb landed his spaceplane, all the Kerbals made sure to stay clear of him.


	20. Khapter 20: Kerbal Space Program

_navyfield90: To make sure the Kerbals are occupied and don't get bored!_

 _Ridli Scott: He also has different shades of sunglasses, depending on how bad it is. The darker the sunglasses, the higher the chance the person that got him angry will die. Of course, it's a little hard to get a little higher than 100%, but it's possible, right?_

* * *

Jebediah sighed, watching the sun set as he drank from a cup of Kemonade.

Seven months had passed. Much had changed since. The KOB had expanded another few square kilometers of land, with lots of production plants, Kethane drilling stations, and even an R&D.

The Kerbals had built an aircraft carrier out in the nearby ocean, alongside two destroyers. The ships were too large to build all at once in the KOB's VAB or SPH, so they built large platforms with RoveMax Model XL3s wheels on them to transport the pieces to the ocean, where they were assembled in a large dry-dock. The aircraft carrier and destroyers were built as not just weapon platforms, but as research and communication centers.

Lelei's sister, Arpeggio El Lalena, studies minerals. Although she is very knowledgeable about the subject, she is paid very little for it and therefore lives in poverty. When Lelei introduced her to the Kerbals and the Kerbals asked her for locations of resource deposits in the world, with the promise to pay her, she jumped right on it. Kethane was rather easy to get, as the Kerbals have specialized scanners for it, but resources like iron, titanium, and conductors like copper and gold were not too easy to detect.

The forest that had the village of non-humans in it were under protection by the Kerbals, and the Kerbals made it clear to the Empire that it was.

Speaking of the Empire, relations with that country was better than before, but not perfect. Although parts of the Empire resented the Kerbals, it's not like they could do anything about it.

Because the irradiated space debris formed a ring around the planet, the Kerbals were having much difficulty navigating around it to get anywhere higher than a geostationary orbit. It was possible to go over the debris, but it required several complicated maneuvers that cost a lot of fuel. For now, they had to reply on the Space GATE and the KSC for any interplanetary missions.

Kerbal technology had advanced, too. Jet engines got more efficient, mining drills were compacted enough to put on space probes, and even larger aircraft were developed for airdrops and cargo transport. There was even a breakthrough with weird hover-pad things that was created from Falmart science, but they were currently too expensive to mass-produce.

As for the space program itself, new capsules and parts were built to accommodate their human and non-human friends. Many had decided to join the space program and advance the science and technology they had.

Giselle had not bothered the Kerbals for quite awhile. And for a good reason, too.

Rory had told the Kerbals that her time was drawing near _._ When the Kerbals asked what that meant, she explained to them that, as an apostle, she would ascend on the one-thousandth year she had been made an apostle. She said she was going to ascend as the Goddess of Love and had ascended a little more than a week after telling the Kerbals.

That was over four months ago.

Rory didn't completely leave the Kerbals behind when she left, though. About a month ago, an apostle showed up at their doorstep. She had introduced herself as Amare Venus, apostle of Rory Mercury, Goddess of Love.

She looked very young, even younger than Rory. She has very light blonde, straight, waist-length hair, and wore a somewhat loose-looking blue shirt and a white dress. She had an exotic-looking bow over her back and a quiver full of arrows. Upon her head was a single triangular headpiece.

The Kerbals soon found out, after welcoming her, that she had a very innocent and carefree personality. However, she was an extremely good sharpshooter and was able to outdo the best Kerbal gun snipers _with her bow_ in sharpshooting contests.

The Kerbals themselves have sent out tons of drones and probes to check out areas off of the continent of Falmart. They've found a continent of ice, and one that has vast, endless deserts. The ocean was also very interesting, too.

The tanks belonging to the non-human village, the Pan-Sir Fore, the Kay-Vii Too, and the Hewlcat were heavily examined by the Kerbals. There were also a few documents with them, and the Kerbals were able to translate most of the documents. Although the Kerbals didn't understand more than half of the documents' content, it was still an interesting read.

"Jeb! Jeb!"

Bob Kerman ran up to him.

"What is it now?" Jeb asked, placing his Kemonade down.

"There's been a fire in the hangar! One of our experimental propeller planes sheared off the wing of another aircraft and started a fire!"

Jeb replied,"It doesn't sound so serious, why'd you go to me for help?"

The fuel depot, which was located right next to the hangar, exploded and knocked down Bob and Jeb. Jeb could see a mushroom cloud rise over the fuel depot.

Jebediah quickly told Bob,"Contact Amare and Lelei, I'll be there in a second."

Bob nodded his head, and headed off his way. Seeing the fuel depot burn, Jeb pulled out a pair of sunglasses - ones not as dark as the ones he used during the SSTO - Spaceplane battle, but they were still sunglasses.

And then, the fire spread to the VAB and _that_ blew up.

Jeb looked at the now-destroyed VAB. He placed a darker pair of sunglasses over his current sunglasses.

"Time to head out."

* * *

 _Conquering Falmart has never been so easy!_

 _This conclusion was rather . . . short, if that's the word? I didn't know how else to end it, and if I made it longer and more drawn out I'd lose interest._

 _Well, I had fun writing and brainstorming ideas for this!_


	21. S2 Khapter 21: Testing

_Because screw finales. I'm making a season 2._

* * *

Amare Venus looked at a tablet-screen she was holding. Out of fifteen people on her team, she was the only one left.

According to the data she gathered, there were two enemies left.

She currently stood atop the Kerbonaut Complex. Examining the area around her, she saw several of the buildings were already destroyed.

Hearing a faint whistling, she quickly looked in the direction of that sound. A Ravenspear Mk1 was flying overhead. With extremely quick reflexes, she swung her bow in the direction of the aircraft and nocked an arrow. In three seconds, she pulled the arrow back and let it loose.

The arrow pierced the engine of the Ravenspear. The arrow then deployed three fins, which shredded through the air intake and fuel tanks. The vehicle exploded in midair and spiraled out of control.

Amare didn't wait around to see the aircraft crash. She was already on the run.

"Messy shot," she spoke to herself. "I should've taken more time to hit the cockpit."

Because of the direction the plane's debris is now flying, the last enemy left would know where she is located.

She heard the _whirr_ of helicopter engines behind her, and, turning around quickly, nocked another arrow and shot at the helicopter.

The helicopter made a hard turn with its RCS thrusters, and the arrow grazed the windshield. Just as the helicopter was about to fire its missiles (she could hear the familiar _click_ in the Hydra Rocket Pods before they were shot), the airborne vehicle spazzed out of control and hit the ground with an explosive splat.

Looking at the smear of metal and burnt rocket fuel on the ground, she said, "I didn't do that."

The landscape around her dissolved into pixels of light. Across her vision, she saw the large, bold words **GAME OVER - TEAM _FALMART_ WINS**.

Amare took off her Virtual Reality device, and removed the motion sensors on her arms and wrists. She then took off the Velcro sensors on her legs, and stepped off the Virtual Reality pad.

"Darn it!" Jeb exclaimed, walking up to her. "I almost had you. _Almost_. Then I forgot that missile glitch existed!"

Amare smiled. "You seem to forget to fix that glitch every time. When will you be able to fix it? I want to challenge you in a rematch."

"No clue," Jeb replied. "Maybe tomorrow."

* * *

A figure climbed over a grassy hill, a pouch slung over its back. They stopped halfway up the rather steep hill to catch their breath.

Upon reaching the top of the hill, the KOB could be seen. The sun had already left the skies, and the bright search-lights of the fortress were illuminating the skies.

So, these were the creatures? The ones that caused all that?

They pulled a device out of their pockets, and a _click_ was heard. They took a radio off their belt, and spoke into it, "I'm here. Are the batteries set up?"

 _"Yes, they are set and aimed. Give us the signal when you need them to be fired."_

The figure nodded, before setting off tot he KOB.

* * *

"I hate guard duty."

That was all the Kerbal said as he sat atop the tower near one of the kOB's entrances. He kept the spotlight aimed at the road in front of the gate. So far, no one had neared this part of the KOB.

"Why do we even bother with this entryway here? It's not like anyone goes past out that way. And I have yet to see someone come in from here for three weeks."

A loud familiar sound - one of a rocket engine, was heard. The Kerbal saw a streak of light fly over the KOB walls, before it impacted an area inside the KOB. Several more streaks flew over, hitting various places inside the fort.

"We're under attack!" he exclaimed. He punched the siren button on his post, picked up his rifle, and ran towards the directions of the raging fires.

Unbeknownst to him, a lone figure quickly scaled the fence. They jumped inside the KOB, and said into their radio, "I'm in."

* * *

The KOB's Mission Control was in complete chaos. Fires were raging in random parts of the KOB. Two out of five of the fire control teams were hit by the missiles, and they were trying to stop the fires before they spread to the fuel depots.

An Aeris 3A was flying over the KOB to assess the full extent of the damage. According to the status report, 2 minor fuel depots were hit. A vehicle garage was also took a blow. However, much of the damage was to the R&D departments. They had been shot up by five missiles, and there were already reports of twenty Kerbal casualties.

Jebediah, upon hearing this, quickly organised several groups of patrols and sent them to the walls around the fortress to guard them.

Heavy spotlights were deployed on towers and shone across the sky for an improbably (but possible) air attack. Machine-gunner nests on the walls were told to get ready. Heat scanners were used around the area to detect anyone.

The Kerbals had quickly detected the source of the rocket strikes, and sent counter-battery fire over to destroy the guns.

"Confirmed hit," a Kerbal said. "Enemy anti-air destroyed."

* * *

Lelei had been awoken by the rumble of the explosions. Wiping her eyes, she sat out of her bed and tossed a jacket on her back.

Her eyes widened upon seeing smoke rising from parts of the KOB. She quickly dressed into her usual outfit, and ran out to the streets.

She collided into someone, and fell. Getting back up, she said, "Sorry about tha-"

When she looked upon the person she collided into, her mind stopped momentarily.

"Wha . . what . . you're a . . ."

Lelei was hit in the side of the head and was knocked out cold. Before she could hit the ground, the person that hit her caught here and placed her down gently next to a building.

"I've almost been compromised. Going to take the secondary routes. This might take a little longer than expected."

Two bright headlights were pointed at him. They heard a voice yell out, "Halt! This area is restricted to non-civilians! Put your hands up!"

That person quickly ran out of the way of the spotlights. The vehicle, a KOB armored truck, started to chase the person.

One of the Kerbals inside asked, "We shoot at 'em, right?"

"Nonlethal rounds only. Use the shock ones," the driver replied.

The turret atop the vehicle aimed and started firing electric bullets, meant to stun someone momentarily. Before they could land any hits, however, an explosion rumbled beneath the vehicle, flipping it onto its side.

"Ack," the Kerbal inside the turret said. He picked up his radio and yelled into it, "We need backup! There's an unidentified person in the KOB!"

 _"Copy that. We're on to it."_

Emergency signals sounded in the KOB, and all Kerbals were alerted to prevent anyone from leaving.

* * *

The person that had infiltrated the KOB thought to themselves, " _I shouldn't have hesitated over there._ "

Knowing that everyone in this fortress is now after them, they slipped into the Vehicle Assembly Building. They pulled a map out of their pocket and looked around.

"Looks like the blueprint rooms are . . . _aha!_ Found it."

They quickly ran to the blueprints room and turned on a flashlight that was on their head. They scanned the light across the many boxes full of blueprints, until their eye fell on one particular box. They picked the box up and opened it.

"So, I was supposed to ge-"

A second voice interrupted them. A feminine voice.

"Oh, what are _you_ doing here? I didn't think we'd have visitors."

Before they could turn around to see who it was, they felt a searing pain in their back as they were thrown into the wall.

When he opened his eyes up again, his gaze fell upon a young, blonde girl that had a strange-looking bow. She had an arrow in her hand, and seemed ready to fire it.

"I am Amare Venus," she spoke, in a voice too cheerful for a situation like this. "And I don't think you're supposed to be here. You have some explaining to do."


	22. S2 Khapter 22: Launch Phase

_You see the new front page I have for this story? Yea, that wasn't easy to put together. Simply put, my computer started protesting after the fourth tank._

 _Herp Kerman (Guest): I mapped out the direction this story is going in, and it's not going in that kinda direction. Well, I think it won't._

 _Predator7: Well, I don't think the JSDF are the type to attack unprovoked. You'll get your answer soon, and it'll be even weirder._

 _It's about time we had a male non-human character that isn't Kerbal, eh?_

* * *

The blaze was difficult to control. Three fire teams had already arrived at the scene, and the mass of flames were spreading to other stationary vehicles in the vicinity.

"Move those trucks over there! If they catch aflame, they'll explode!"

"Where's the medic truck?! We have Kerbals down!"

Jeb Kerman walked up to the group of Kerbals trying to stop the fire.

"You guys been able to find the debris of the missiles that hit?" he asked.

"Yes, sir!" a Kerbal said. He picked up a scorched piece of metal.

Jeb looked at it, and recognized it instantly. It was from an old FL-T400 fuel tank. The same fuel tanks used by the KSC 2 on their ships when they set off on their expeditions.

"Dang it," Jeb spoke, slightly angry. "Knew it was them. Who else could've it been?"

Two Gull seaplanes and a Mallard flew overhead, dropping water upon the burning buildings.

Bob Kerman ran next to Jeb.

"Gather up the crew for a meeting, Bill," Jeb spoke.

Bob replied, "We have a situation, though. In the VAB. Amare contacted me through radio and said she found a trespasser. I haven't seen anyone like him before."

"Him?" Jeb questioned. "And what do you mean, you haven't seen anyone like him before?"

"He has wings."

Jeb looked at Bob with a blank expression.

"No, I'm not talking about the one like the Siren has! I'm talking about wings that protruded out of the back!"

"And that is weird how . . ?"

"According to basic Human physiology and anatomy, it is impossible for wings to be -"

Jeb threw down the radio he was holding. "For goodness' sake, Bob! Ever since we entered this world, everything new we discovered here has not made sense! But guess what, we were able to study it and make sense of it with **science**! You're the smart one here; even if it shouldn't exist, it does exist, and _because it doesn't make sense_ shouldn't be a reason for you to not make sense of it!"

Jeb looked at the radio he threw on the ground. "Eh. . . I probably needed that rant. C'mon, let's go clear things up. Also, radio Val and Bill and tell them to meet us at the VAB."

* * *

"I don't have to explain anything to you."

"You probably should~. Otherwise, I can't guarantee your safety."

Amare was able to identify the features of the winged humanoid. His wings were a slight blue color, and his hair was a more metallic blue. Half of his face was bandaged up. The one eye of his that wasn't covered up was a striking sea-blue color. He looked to be a little past his teenage years.

He grimaced in pain as he shifted his seating, an arrow was stuck through his wing and into the wall behind it. Razors on the end of the arrow's shaft prevented him from moving his wing forward off the arrow, and Amare, aiming her bow at him, was threatening to shoot him again if he made any measures to remove the arrow.

"What are you going to do to me?" he spat out. "Torture me? Kill me? You can't make me speak."

"I won't be the one doing it," Amare said, fiddling with her bow. "After all, you probably _could_ overpower and get past me easily. I'm still young as an Apostle, and still weak." She looked up at him. "But assuming you could get past me, you still have to pass all the levels of security this place has to offer. That also means they should be here right about ... now."

Jeb and Bob Kerman ran into the room. Jeb, upon seeing the winged person, said, "Woah." Looking at Amare, he spoke, "What did I say about using excessive force?"

"The arrow in his wing?" she asked. "I don't consider that excessive force. In fact, I think he got off lightly."

"Got off lightly?" Jeb asked. "Maybe, but it's somewhat cruel to leave his wing skewered on the arrow." Jeb approached him, and asked, "I'll help ya remove that arrow."

"Don't touch me," the winged person spoke. He winced as the arrow shifted in his wing. "I can pull the arrow out myself."

Jeb continued walking towards him and, grabbing the arrow, pulled it out quickly. A bit of blood came with it too.

"How rude of me," Jeb said, handing the arrow to Amare. "I forgot to introduce myself. I'm Jebediah Kerman, one of the supervisors of the KOB. What's your name?"

"And why should I give you my name?"

"Just give it, okay?! What do you expect us to do with your name, make bombs out of it?"

He looked surprised at Jeb's outburst, and deciding that it'll be a bad idea to get on his bad side, he said, "Well, my name is . . . Keen Feather."

Jeb put his hand on Amare's shoulder. "This here is Amare Venus, one of the Apostles." Amare gave Jeb a death glare, but Jeb didn't seem to notice.

Keen attempted to get up, stumbling a bit as pain burst through his injured wing.

"Don't stand up of it hurts," Jeb said. "You're just making the injury worst."

"Shut up," Keen said. "I can handle myself."

"We're not letting you out of this place," Jeb replied. "There's a bunch of reasons, but the primary one is this." He had left the piece of the missile he found in his pocket, and took it out, showing it to Keen. "This was from the missiles that hit our buildings. And it just happens to be missiles produced by our enemies. It can't be a coincidence that you're trespassing into this facility at the same time these missiles were hit. Heck, we don't even recognize you." The room seemed to get a somewhat darker atmosphere as Jeb's serious mode turned on.

Keen was terrified by this. Here was this little green-headed thing that gave an aura of killing intent.

"Yea, _you better tell us what you're doing here, because bad things might happen to you, **or worst."**_

In an instant, Jeb's spirit had changed instantly to a more happy, carefree one tone. "So, you'll tell us what you're here for, right?"

Keen didn't know what to say.

 _"Right?"_

Not wanting to summon _that_ attitude again, Keen stuttered, "Yes, uh - I mean, yea, I will."

Jeb nodded. "Okay." He looked around him, but he couldn't find Bill Kerman.

"The heck? Bill, where'd you go?"

Bill had walked around the corner. "Val and Bob can't come right now. They found Lelei knocked out next to a building."

"Oh," Jeb replied. "Any major injuries?"

"None. Just a bump on her head."

Jeb nodded. "Alright. You take care of that." He turned his head towards Keen. "I'll take care of this guy."

* * *

 _I have this story arc planned out. It's gonna be somewhat weird and all. But it'll make sense, I hope._

 _This time, the Kerbal's true weapon powers shall shine._


	23. S2 Khapter 23: Propogade

_MODERN ARMED FORCE: The truth may be more jarring than the theories._

* * *

The entire KOB was on high alert. Artillery trucks and tanks were placed as security on the roads of the KOB, as large helicopters and VTOLs searched the area far and wide for the people (or Kerbals) that have done this.

So far, there was no success with any findings. The sun was about to peek over the horizon, and with the daylight on their side, the Kerbals plan to turn their satellites onto the surrounding area and search the ground with trucks and tanks.

Meanwhile, Jebediah Kerman and Amare had led Keen into an armored room, the same interrogation room they brought Ima to. Some parts of the KOB, despite being upgraded and refitted, just seemed to always remained the same.

"This old building here makes me nostalgic," Jebediah said, tapping his hand on the wall. "Originally built and used as a temporary bunker when we first set base here, we eventually turned it into an interrogation room and a safe house. There are two other buildings like this, used to store ammunition."

"Uhm . . . Okay?" Keen replied. He didn't seem too interested in that subject.

"Alright, now that we're here," Jeb cracked his knuckles, and sat down at the table that was in the room. "Please sit on the other side of the table."

Keen just stared at Jeb.

"I said, **please sit on the other side of the table.** "

Hearing the tone in Jebediah's voice, and not wanting to incur his wrath, he quickly sat down on the chair.

"No need for restraints, I don't think so," Jeb said. "I'm pretty sure you won't run away, will you?"

Keen took a look at his chances of getting past Jeb and Amare, and then heard a loud rumbling outside. When he looked through the barred bulletproof glass window of the building, he could see a large metal vessel rumble past.

"Don't even think about it. We're ordered to stop anyone that tries to get out of here due to the lock down. If you try, you'll be shot to pieces, and we don't want that."

Several months of practice has really trained Jeb in the art of interrogation. As Keen looked unsteadily back at Jeb, Jeb raised an eyebrow. "So? Aren't you going to tell us Kerbals anything? Nothing would get easier of you stay quiet."

"You, shut up!" Keen exclaimed. "No one tells me what to do, and I'll only open my mouth when I want to!"

"Well, that's unfortunate." Jeb leaned forwards onto the table and placed his two hands flat on the table like he saw in those spy movies. "If you don't tell us your allegiance, your society, who you work with, we'll still be able to find about it somehow. If you don't tell us, we won't have any chance of negotiating at all, and we'll have to kill them. You can run. You can hide. But you can't stay like that for long."

Jeb smirked as he saw Keen twitch. It seemed like he hit a soft spot.

"Now, you tell us. If you tell us, you and your allies have a chance of surviving, if they also are willing to negotiate. If you don't, we have no choice but to burn your friends, your allies, your comrades to the ground. Arguably a fate worst than death, to know you just killed everyone you loved and are related to and you could've prevented it."

Jeb didn't even bother to look at Keen to give it extra effect. He picked up a feather that Keen's wing had dropped onto the ground. It was strangely designed, unlike the little fibers that normal feathers had, it had a sheet of an almost plastic-like substance through it, along with extra supports on the sides. He started to pluck off pieces of it, and dropped the bare shaft to the ground. "Your choice, you can tell us, or not."

Jeb then heard Amare's voice. "I think you've overdone it. I had to knock him out because he was having a panic attack and refused to calm down."

Looking over at the other end of the table, Keen was slouched over the table, face down. Amare was holding a doused napkin and a small bottle with chemicals in it.

"Alright, that's okay," Jeb replied. "For a second I thought you knocked him out by hitting him in the back of the head. Which wouldn't have been a good thing, mind you. We don't want this guy dead. Well, not yet anyways. Can you contact Bob and Val? I want to see if Lelei's okay and has woke up yet."

* * *

"Dang it, dang it, dang it. I know I shouldn't have let that idiot in by himself."

"Well, what's done is done. We can't reverse anything we've done last night anymore."

 _"Why are you taking this so calmly?"_

"Why shouldn't I?"

"Look, we lost one of our three-member team, he's presumably dead when trying to fetch those blueprints for those weapons. We've alerted all those Kerbal-creatures that we exist, and now they're sending up bird-vehicles to search for us!"

"We've fought against them once, and took their weapons to use ourselves. Why can't we do the same here?"

" _You should know by now that it's not that easy!_ The only thing we can do now is go in there ourselves and take those blueprints."

"Why should we if we know we'll fail?"

"I'm surprised no one has named you a disappointment to our kind yet. I'm fighting for our species whether it kills me or not."

"As they always say, you can do more alive than dea-"

" _Quiet!_ We're approaching the gates of the fortress. I'll wait for a moment to slip in, and you'll wait for me out here."

"Tsk, tsk. Why can't I come along? You said that we all needed to contribute to our species."

"Oh, so _now_ you cooperate. Alright then, let's both go in about . . . _now!_ "

* * *

The Kerbal at guard duty today yawned. Being the driver of a tank was going to be exciting and filled with adventure, right? Well, not really. The KOB's tank divisions haven't seen any active combat ever since the KSC 2 had landed their tanks near the Empire's capital city. And those tanks were easy prey. One shot to the bottom normally sent those tanks flying into the air, and if it was one of the heavier tanks, all it took was a good shot into the command pod.

Now, the KOB's tanks were either locked away in storage or reserves or used as patrol duty on the defenses around the KOB. With the KOB expanding, more area needed to be defended, and these tanks were good mobile bunkers that could throw firepower and eat it like a potato chip.

Or that was the theory. In reality, the tanks kept getting stuck on ditches and mud puddles on the dirt road circling the KOB (Seriously, why can't they ever build an actual concrete path) and the unfortunate vehicles that stood still for too long on the concrete pillboxes on the walls eventually had their wheels rust together from weeks or even months of no movement.

So yea, a very boring and tedious job. If only - wait, what just went through the gate?

The Kerbal inside the cockpit of the tank saw two figures scurry across the tarmac from the gate. Knowing that only certified Kerbals were allowed to leave and enter the KOB, he quickly contacted Mission Control.

"There's unidentified in the KOB. Sound the alarm."

* * *

Valentina, hearing of the unidentified that were inside the KOB, deployed tanks onto the roads. All the citizens were instructed to stay indoors while the Kerbals checked around the KOB. Large tanks and armored trucks rolled down the streets, their turrets sweeping left and right.

Val was anxious, watching the screen she was holding of the map of the KOB. If any units in the KOB had contact with an unidentified person, they'd send an alarm directly to her and she'd deploy alongside her other forces.

Just when she was about to doze off, a loud _ding ding ding_ could be heard on her electronic map.

"Alright, ready up, everyone!" Val exclaimed to the Kerbals as she hopped into a jeep. "We're going out right now. Load up your weapons. Don't fire unless told to fire."

Val's jeep rolled out of the garage, two armored trucks and a tank trailing it.

"Location is west in section A4," Val spoke into her radio. "No - A5, the target has moved."

 _"We're not playing a game of Battleship, Val."_

Valentina replied, "Quiet! You know what I'm talking about! Now let's go!"

The four vehicles took a hard left turn, right towards the signal on Val's map.

"Alright, who's the one that dare enter the KOB without permission?" Val yelled as she rolled up in her vehicle.


	24. S2 Khapter 24: Leaving Atmosphere

_Managed to land a small base on the Mün and Minmus. Should I shoot for Eve or Duna next?_

* * *

Valentina stopped the vehicle.

"They should be around here somewhere," Val spoke, holding her map-screen and looking around.

Two sepratron missiles smashed into the side of Val's jeep, denting the door.

"Found 'em!" Val yelled. She gunned the jeep's engine and headed in the direction the shots came from. However, her vehicle turned into more sepratron-fire, breaking the windshield and showering glass upon her. In response, Val pulled up the SRB rocket launcher she always kept in the back seat and fired it.

The resulting explosion practically smoked the whole area out, preventing her from seeing anything at all. The smoke cleared, and she heard someone speaking to the side of the building intersection.

"What do we do, what do we do?"

"Calm down, I have a plan . . ."

The tank and two armored trucks rolled up behind her. She silently gestured to them to fire only when he said so.

"Alright, on three we'll-"

 **"Surprise, mateys!"**

Valentina cut through the intersection. Looking to her left, she saw two human-like people.

"Surrender now!" Val yelled. "Or else-"

A separation hit her in the head and she was knocked off her jeep. Quickly getting back up, she yelled at them, "What?! Where did you get Kerbal weapons?!"

One of the armored trucks rolled up next to Val's jeep. It slowly turned its turret to face the two trespassers. Val had to run forwards to see them, and managed to get a good look at them.

One of them, a male, was around two meters wall. He was dressed in an outfit that could be described as simple winter clothes. He had two light-blue wings sprouting from his back, and his hair was a shade of blue-gray.

The other one was a female with a similar appearance to him. Her outfit consisted of the same clothes as her partner, however she wore cargo pants with a short skirt over it. Her hair was a little less than waist-length, and she had light blue wings on her back.

In their hands, however, were weapons manufactured by the KSC 2.

In anger, Val raised her firearm and fired. Although she missed, she startled the two of them. Firing again, she hit the female one in the wing. The winged humanoid fell to the ground, blood pouring from the wound in her wing. The male yelled something in anger at Valentina, firing another shot at her. Valentina, although uninjured, was knocked off her feet by the shot that hit her helmet.

"We're going to make it out of here alive, okay?" Val heard the male exclaim. She quickly stood herself up and saw him crouched over the injured female that was shot. Val heard a faint cough from the injured person.

"Dang it, stay with me!" he yelled. He turned his head to look at Valentina, and his face contorted in anger.

"Why you!"

He swiped down with his rifle at Val, and Val was barely able to parry the hit. He lunged, nearing hitting Val in the helmet. He turned his head at her, and she could see pure rage in his eyes.

A decoupler hit him in the head, knocking him out. He landed face-down, a trickle of blood coming from his head. Behind him, Bob was holding a decoupler submachine gun.

"You alright, Val?" he asked.

"Yep," Val replied. "Make sure he's still alive. I'll check up on his friend over there."

Walking over to the female winged humanoid, Valentina eyed the injuries. A surprising amount of blood was pouring out of the wound on her wing.

The human-winged person opened her eyes when she heard Val approaching. When Val stood next to her, she let out a small whimper and tried to push herself away from the Kerbal.

"Please . . . please don't hurt me," she whispered. Val kneeled down to examine the wound on the wing.

"You need to get this treated quickly, or else you're going to loose a lot of blood," Val spoke. "Weird thing though, why is your blood a slight purple?"

The only response Val got was heavy and panicked breathing.

Valentina gestured to a nearby armored car. When the vehicle drove nearby, Val spoke to the driver in it. "Load her up in the vehicle and bring her to the nearest medical facility. I'll stay here with the other intruder."

The Kerbal in the armored car nodded. He exclaimed to the other Kerbals inside the vehicle, "Oi, guys, come out. We need to get someone on this truck."

As the Kerbals in the armored truck gathered up the female winged humanoid, Val looked back at the male winged human.

"He's going to be alright," Bob replied. "I didn't hit him in the head too hard. Better send him to one of the nearby hospitals to check up on him, though."

Valentina, after looking down, signed and rubbed her head. "Why are we getting so many intruders, and at this time of all times?"

* * *

"N-no, I d-don't know-"

"Shut up! We know you do and we'll do _anything_ to obtain that information!"

A young winged human was strapped to a heavy metal chair. Her hair and wings were a light blue color, and she wore a tattered dress.

On her face was an airtight mask connected to some machinery.

"We're gonna be doin' this again and again, y'know. We ain't gonna stop."

A Kerbal walked into the light, wearing a uniform that hadn't been in use in the KSC for a long time. "You going to tell us now?"

"But I can't t-tell you," she spoke, fear in her eyes.

"Very well, then."

She felt a surge of water flow into the mask on her face, as she held her breath. For a full minute her lungs burned as her mind begged for air, the edges of her vision slowly darkening.

At last, the mask drained of water, and she took in a breath of the sweet air.

"That'll be enough for today. She's bound to break the location of that place tomorrow," another Kerbal replied, one that was controlling the machinery.

"I dang hope so. We won't know how long 'till those KOB guys find us."

The lights in the room turned off. She silently sobbed to herself, still strapped onto the chair.

"Why me?" she asked. "Why does it have to be me . .?"

Two minutes passed and the lights in the room turned on again. She closed her eyes and spoke, in a small voice, "Don't hurt me again . ."

"Relax, relax, I'm not here to hurt ya."

Opening her eyes, she saw one of the Kerbal-creatures wearing a spacesuit without a helmet.

"Look, you've been holding out well against 'em," he said. He then looked around, before leaning forward. "Whatever you do, don't give in to their demands. Don't tell 'em."

"B-but, I don't know!" she exclaimed.

"Good," he said. "Just try to hold out. I'm not supposed to be here, so I have to leave now."

Before he turned off the lights of the room, she exclaimed, "Wait! Why are you . . . trying to help me?"

The Kerbal turned to her. "The only reason I joined was for the old rocket parts. Not _this_." He gestured to the machinery used to torment her.

"Old rocket parts..?"

"You wouldn't understand," he replied. "But I have morals. Unlike the other guys here."

The lights in the room turned off accompanied by the sound of a closing door.


	25. S2 Khapter 25: Orbital Turn

_Hi._

* * *

"This is the _Spirit Laythe_ , surrender your vessels now or be fired upon."

 _"We ain't doing none of that! We're getting outta this solar system whether you like it or not!"_

Below the hulking form of the battlecruiser was the planet Laythe. The vessel's nuclear engines fired, bringing it closer to the two Laythe SSTOs that were trying to escape.

"We will warn you one more time, this is the _Spirit Laythe_ , surrender your vessels now or be fired upon."

There was no response for a few seconds. The _Spirit Laythe_ fired off a guided missile, striking one of the SSTOs and destroying it entirely. The debris of the vessel formed a small cloud as chunks of it drifted past the _Spirit Laythe_.

 _"Why you -"_

The second SSTO cut off communications with the _Spirit Laythe_ , and proceeded to fire its engines towards the battlecruiser. The large vessel scrambled another missile, firing at the approaching SSTO. It tore off the SSTO's wing, but the vehicle kept on going.

In a brilliant explosion, the SSTO rammed the _Spirit Laythe._ Debris was scattered everywhere as armor and structural pieces of the battlecruiser dislocated off the ship. The ammunition inside the ship went off, and a large cloud of debris formed suddenly in Laythe orbit. The crew had less than a second to react after the ship was rammed, and none managed to get to an escape pod.

* * *

"This is the KSC transmitting to all Joolian vessels, we have lost contact with the _Spirit Laythe._ It may be a technical malfunction, either way we don't have comms of whats going on Laythe as of right now. Over."

* * *

 _Beep beep . . . beep beep . . ._

The steady and surprisingly comforting sound soothed her. She opened her eyes, but quickly closed them as the room was too bright. Slowly opening them again and adjusting to the light, she examined her surroundings.

The room wasn't large, but it wasn't too small either. She was laying in a bed on one side of the room, and opposite of the bed was a window, warm sunlight streaming through its blinds. On the wall was a circular device with little sticks and numbers on them, making a small ticking as the red stick moved around.

Her injured wing was held down to the table with straps. The hole was bandaged up and there were a few tubes sticking into it.

Next to her was what looked like a box with a glowing line on it. The line would go up twice, with the machine giving that weird beeping noise, and then fall back down just as quick. It would do that every second.

Looking around again, she thought to herself _"Where am I?"_

Hearing the door click, she turned her head in that direction.

She tensed up when she saw that . . . _Kerbal_ creature.

"Relax, relax," the Kerbal spoke in a feminine voice. "We aren't going to do anything to you."

"That's what they always say!" she yelled back.

"You could say that," the Kerbal replied. "But are you in chains right now, with poles stuck through your wings and your fluids painfully pumped out for study? You're lucky I was able to pull a few strings so R&D wouldn't do that to you."

"So," the winged woman replied icily. "You're all the same."

" _You're_?" Valentina asked. "What'd you mean by that, you met us before?"

"Do you not seriously know?!" the woman replied, pointing a finger accusingly at the Kerbal. "Your kind attacked one of our patrols, kidnapped a few of ours, and injured several others!"

Valentina was speechless for a second. "Now, let's wait for a moment and clear up some misconceptions." Valentina decided to take a step towards the hospital bed. "My name's Valentina. Valentina Kerman. Now, what's yours?"

"I won't answer your questions!" the winged woman said. "Now tell me where I am!"

"Well, let's settle on a deal. I'll ask a question and you'll give an answer. You ask a question and I'll give an answer. A fair deal, am I right?"

The woman huffed, before looking at Val. "Fine. My name's Updraft."

"Interesting name. Now your turn to ask a question."

"Okay, where am I?"

Valentina was thinking for a moment. Key points for interrogation was to give information, but not enough information to satisfy them. And not too much, either.

"We're located at the Kerbal Operation Base's hospital."

"Well, no duh. But where are we, exactly?"

Valentina smiled. "That's not how it works. My turn to ask a question."

Updraft gave an angry look at Valentina. "Now, where are you from and what are you here for?" Val asked.

Updraft thought about this question for about a minute.

"I'm here for . . . Nothing of your business!"

Valentina frowned. "I think it is _all_ of our business. After all, we caught two of your buddies in our fort, not to mention the large barrage of missiles that hit our base earlier. I think we deserve to know about that, so tell us now."

"Wait, the two others?" Updraft tried to get out of her bed. "What, are they okay? How are they?"

Val stomped her foot down. "I said one question at a time, and we take turns! Also, get back in your bed, you're in no condition to be walking!"

Updraft sat back down as pain in her injured wing kept her bedridden. She winced as her wing shifted in its straps.

"Okay, you still haven't answered your question. Tell us. Now."

Updraft sighed. "Us three were went here to . . . try to find a way to fight off your species in our homeland."

 _'This is interesting_ ' Valentina thought.

Updraft spoke again. "My turn to ask. Where are we, _exactly?_ "

"We're located on the edge of the second-largest continent of this planet, approximately 1,500 from the northern pole of this planet."

Updraft blinked. That wasn't the answer she was hoping for.

". . . or, you're also located on the continent of Falmart. Now, you said earlier that you needed to fight off my species. How, and why?"

Updraft replied, "Well . . . there were members of your species up north, near where my people live. They built large castles and fortresses made of metal, and we haven't tried to approach them. They've attacked us in patrols and captured a few. They're trying to search for our well-hidden homes, and we've been looking around down this way with the strange constructs we have stolen from them."

Val nodded. That explains the barrages of missiles into the KOB.

"Now, about my companions," Updraft continued. "How are they?"

"One of them, Keen Feather, was captured earlier with minor injures. He's in this hospital along with the one that was alongside you in the fighting earlier."

"That one's Downdraft, my stubborn twin brother."

"Twins? Now that's rather interesting, our DNA scanners were a bit confused when scanning your blood samples."

Valentina built her question off of Updraft's previous response to the question. "You said that members of my species attacked your people. Please, explain how their uniform looked."

"Well, it was a rather disgusting orange color with those large glass and metal globes that our weapons couldn't scratch. I prefer your uniforms, they're a nice white and red color."

 _Orange._ Only two organizations on Kerbin used those uniforms The old and outdated space program and the KSC 2.

Valentina hit her fist on the top of the nearest table nearby, startling Updraft.

"Gosh dang it! I thought we got rid of those guys!"

"W-what? Did I say something wrong?" Updraft asked.

"No, you told us the right thing. I'll be going now, you rest up."

* * *

Valentina closed the door to the winged human's room.

"So?" Bob Kerman asked. "Info?"

"At first she didn't want to tell us too much. So I told her that, if she wanted to ask us questions we ask her questions. A question for a question.

"So, she is apparently the same species as the other two intruders - both of which haven't woke up yet. Her name's Updraft, and the other person that was with her was her twin brother, Downdraft."

"Convenient names, aren't they?" Bob asked.

"Yep. But that's not the important part," Valentina replied, walking down the hallway.

"Wait, hold up. What do you mean by it's not the important part?" Bob Kerman asked, trailing after her.

"There's a piece of information that overshadows everything else we know."

"Well, then, tell me!"

Valentina continued walking. "The KSC 2's forces are still alive."

Bob Kerman stopped in his tracks. "Now, how is that true?! I saw the destroyed ships myself, there is no way none of them could've possibly come down from orbit!"

" _But they did,_ and now they're on this planet,"Valentina replied icily. "We left a job half done, and we're going to finish it. Tell everyone to prepare supplies and weapons, we're going to take those guys out."

* * *

 _I was going to make this a little longer, but I didn't want to expand the wait time for you guys._


	26. S2 Khapter 26: Extending Orbit

_When you have the plot figured out but you don't know how to get it on paper._

* * *

"Get the cargo loaded up. Check on the tanks, I want their bearings checked and wheels greased. Aircraft, too. VTOLs need to be loaded onboard and drained of their fuel to prevent explosions."

Jebediah barked out commands to the Kerbals, who were rushing around on the docks of the K-SOB, Kerbal Seaside Operations Base. The large aircraft carrier built a few months ago loomed over them as the Kerbals rushed supply trucks, aircraft, and weapons onto the watercraft.

"Jeb, you have a message from the KSC," A kerbal ran up to Jebediah and handed him a slip of paper. "Head to the K-SOB central building and they'll tell you what it is they want."

* * *

Jebediah was staying calm throughout his entire phone call to the KSC. Only when the person on the other side finished speaking did he blow up.

"What, I have a whole _operation_ going on here, and you expect me to _abandon them?!_ "

More chattering on the other side of the line.

"Look, I know an armed insurgency on Laythe is a bad thing, but not enough for _me_ to be called over! Get the _Spirit Laythe_ to bombard them from orbit!"

More chattering.

"Oh . . . so it's gone, huh. Send the other planetary capital ships to investigate. I'll have to stay here to- "

Jeb was quiet for a moment.

"Now _wait just a minute._ Stop trying to convince me to go back to the KSC and _fix your own kraken-damned mistakes for once_. I don't have to babysit you guys!"

Jeb didn't let the Kerbals on the other side of the line continue.

"And look, you've called at the worst time, too! I'm arming the KOB for another war! And this one is actually kinda important!"

There was some more chatting on the other side of the line.

"Okay. Okay. I'll come over. But you'll have to send resources to the other side of thee GATE for us. Most of the Kerbals in this expeditionary squad are rookies."

Jeb placed down the phone just as Bill Kerman walked up behind him.

"Problems, Jeb?"

"If you count an insurgency as a problem, yes," he replied. "I'll need to go back to the KSC. They're having problems at Laythe."

"Laythe?" Bill asked. "I thought it was pretty stable there."

" _Was_ pretty stable. Now it's not. Tell Val and the others that I won't be able to make it for the mission, because I need to leave right now."

Jebediah left the room, leaving a slightly worried Bill.

* * *

The expeditionary fleet consisted of a multipurpose aircraft carrier, the KOB _Seabed_ , and a research escort destroyer, the KOB _Embankment._

"Isn't an aircraft carrier a little overkill?" Bob Kerman asked Valentina as they walked up the steps into the large ship.

"Probably not," Val replied as she stopped to adjust some pressure valves. "First time this thing has been tested in an operation. I want to see how this ship does."

Armed with a few hundred missiles, CIWS, an ICBM, several fighter aircraft, transport helicopters, VTOLs, and even an SSTO, the carrier was definitely a forced to be reckoned with.

"Do you think we'd actually encounter anything native to this world that'll actually require the use of these..?" Bob stared at the air-to-air missiles and TOW missiles inside the hangar of the ship.

"You can never be too careful or too overkill," Val replied. "It's only underkill that we need to worry about."

Bob nodded. "True, true."

A quick _blip_ was heard, and Valentina took out her phone in response to the notification.

"Oh. Are you kidding me," she said, looking at the screen.

"What's wrong?"

"Call everyone currently in the expedition. Emergency meeting."

* * *

A large circle of Kerbals and a few humans were around Bill Kerman, Bob Kerman, and Valentina Kerman. All the kerbals were talking to each other, wondering to themselves what warranted a meeting.

"So," Valentina spoke. "You all know Jebediah Kerman was supposed to come with us on this mission. However, he is unable to come." Val could feel the tension and panic rising in the crowd around her.

"Before you say another word, he cannot come due to problems back at home. He is helping the KSC squash an insurgency on Laythe."

Although that alleviated the panic a bit, it didn't do anything to lessen the tension.

"Then shouldn't we go help him?" a Kerbal asked.

"Nope," Val replied. "Remember our motto? _Never leave a job unfinished_. The KSC will do their job at Laythe, and Jebediah is counting on us to finish _our_ job."

Val looked at the group of non-Kerbals to the side. Lelei, Amare, Keen Feather, Updraft, and Downdraft.

"So, what do you plan on doing? Stay with this mission? Or leave?" Valentina asked. "Jebediah is not here, so the risk already goes up twofold. You can leave if you want, I won't judge."

Amare twirled her bow around. "My observations conclude this: Due to the fact that most of the KOB's forces will be redirected to this mission, and also the fact that Jebediah Kerman is not in this side of the GATE, I will stay at the KOB to protect it in case it comes under attack again."

Valentina nodded. "Sounds good. Lelei, what about you? I know Keen, Updraft, and Downdraft is accompanying us, but what about you?"

"I'll come along on this mission," Lelei replied.

"Alright. Let's load up. We're heading out as soon as possible."

* * *

The large aircraft carrier dwarfed the escort destroyer next to it. Moving out of port at around 30 knots, the groups of Falmart residents watched the large ocean vessel in awe.

Of course, it wasn't enough _just_ to launch an aircraft carrier. Three squadrons of Ravenspear aircraft flew over the aircraft carrier to escort it for about five kilometers.

"What now?" Bob Kerman asked as they watched from the bridge of the aircraft carrier.

"We just sit back and relax for the duration of the trip there," Bill replied, leaning back into his chair.

"I don't know about you," Bob replied. "But I think getting too relaxed on a trip like this isn't going to be the best idea out there."

"Why not?"

"Just a hunch."

* * *

Jebediah was in the KSC's _Elictrum_ , a large electric cruiser currently situated in Munar orbit. With a broadside of seeking missiles and forward-facing SRB missiles, this vessel, along with seven others, will secure the space around Laythe. After that, three _Aerobreak_ -class transports will drop their payloads onto Laythe and secure whatever was on the ground.

Simple idea on paper, much more difficult to actually execute.

They had stopped at the Mun for refuel, as landers from various mining bases brought up oxidizer and liquidfuel.

"How much longer 'till we're done refueling?" Jeb asked one of the pilots of the vessel.

"About two or three more orbits."

"Alright."

Jebediah leaned against a wall. The new research from the GATE enabled the creation of artificial gravity . . . well, somewhat. In reality it's just a revolutionary idea brought up by a GATE denizen (Why not just use magnets to not float around?)

Jeb felt a button on the wall depress as he leaned against it, and looked at it.

"Who the heck put a spacebar here."

An explosion sounded off, and Jeb watched out the window as one of the drop-craft on the ship decoupled, engines at full power, and flew away.

". . . you know you're never going to see that again," Jeb said to the pilot.

"And it's coming out of _your_ paycheck," the pilot groaned.


End file.
